Pelargoniums: arguably the oldest Cape export

Have you ever noticed the number of plants, endemic to South Africa, that appear on cut flower catalogues or are common garden plants worldwide? Well researchers have, and it will shock you how many cut flowers and common garden plants have been bred from South African plants. In the excellent paper: “The potential of South African indigenous plants for the international cut flower trade”, the authors go even further by looking at the annual revenue that certain countries garner by the sale of these plants in the international market.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0254629911001244

The below image was taken from the paper, do any of the cut flowers look familiar? Gladioli, Freesias, Gerberas, they all have their genetic origins in South Africa, and even just the Cape.

They present a short list of the most well known exports that seem to generate the highest income: “Commercialised South African flowers have been hybridized, registered with plant breeder's rights and distributed world-wide. These include species of Clivia, Freesia, Gerbera, Gladiolus, and Protea. Species and hybrids of several other genera are currently the subject of international interest among breeders, including Agapanthus, Arctotis, Crocosmia, Disa, Eucomis, Erica, Haemanthus, Ixia, Lachenalia, Leucadendron, Leucospermum, Lobelia, Mimetes, Nerine, Nymphaea, Ornithogalum,

Osteospermum, Pelargonium, Rhodohypoxis,

Serruria, Sparaxis, Strelitzia, Streptocarpus,

Tulbaghia, Venidium, Watsonia and Zantedeschia.”

You will notice many of these genera are geophytes, as we have the highest diversity of geophytic plants int he world, and let’s face it, geophytes are gorgeous, and many make excellent cut flowers.

Another poignant excerpt from the paper: “The globalization of ornamental plants and use of genetic material by the industrialized countries (“floral colonization”) has received little attention, yet 83% of commercial flora in the USA had a foreign origin, with 453 species from South Africa. This is not seen as exploitation but as an enhancement for horticulture (Taylor, 2010).”

So that is the situation right now, but how did this “floral colonization” start? Today I am telling the story of one of the biggest plant “exports” from the Cape: Geraniums (or actually Pelargoniums) to highlight a very common mode for South African plant genetics ending up on the international stage.

As with many stories in the Cape, we start with the European colonists who arrived in the Cape in the late 1500s. The Dutch East India Company that set up their refreshment station in Cape Town were good at spotting natural resources of value. One such interest was the floral diversity of the Cape. The Dutch formalised the export of plant genetics from all over their colonies back to the Netherlands, it was firmly set as one of Jan van Riebeeck and Simon van der Stel’s agendas to explore the uses of local flora by observing indigenous people, and to export anything that was deemed of value. This was a common agenda among colonists, and even before the formalised effort by the Dutch many rogue explorers from all over Europe collected and described as many new animals, plants and landscapes in their travels to take home.

The Dutch were experts at spotting a plant that had potential to be bred and hybridised into something that would sell. As more and more plants were collected and sent back to the Netherlands, more hybrids and variants were bred. I once read that the estimated revenue the Netherlands has garnered from hybridised forms of Cape cut flowers is similar to the revenue generated in the gold mining industry in South Africa. This really brings to the forefront the debate over the potential of genetic resources being just as significant as other natural resources: where do the rights sit to exploit this resource? Should some benefit be retroactively bestowed on the country of origin? This BIG debate is for another post. Let us get back on track and use the example of “Geraniums” (Pelargoniums) to tell the story.

Geraniums, as they are colloquially known worldwide, are a super diverse range of hybrids and variants of shrubs that have gorgeous pink, purple or red flowers.

I think of them as “Outannie plante”, every old lady I knew growing up had a collection of Geraniums on her stoep in pots.

“Geraniums” all fall in the genus Pelargonium. The misnomer was caused by the insistence of Carl Linnaeus in 1753 that the plants arriving in Europe from the Cape were in the same genus as the European counterpart: Geranium. Carl Linnaeus is the father of the binomial classification system (the classic genus species name combo we give to all living things today, like Homo (genus) sapiens (species) for instance) so even though the name Pelargonium was suggested 50 years earlier, no-one dared contradict the great naturalist. Although Pelargoniums are in the Geraneaceae family, and thus closely related to the European Geranium, they were later rightly classified within their own genus, Pelargonium, but the colloquial name Geranium stuck.

In the late 1500s the first Pelargonium made it’s way to Europe and was grown in the Leiden Botanical Garden, this plant was Pelargonium triste (pictured on the right, a Pelargonium triste flowering in my garden).

This was long before the refreshment station had been set up in Cape Town and could arguably be the oldest export from South Africa! From that time on various Pelargonium species' seeds were taken from the Cape and sent to Europe. By 1724 five species had been introduced to Europe.

By the late 1800s there were dozens of cultivars already bred and quickly the genetic origins of most of these cultivars became obscured. The breeding and hybridisation of Pelargoniums continued and reached a peak in the 1900s and now more than 80 variants exist, with many horticultural societies across the world devoting their activities to growing and selling these plants (and arguing about the number of variants).

Apart from the industrialisation of Pelargoniums for horticultural trade, Pelargoniums have also been commercialised for the essential oil industry. There are almost three dozen scented varieties, that have scents that range from almond, to cinnamon, to lemon to my favourite: ROSE! Below is a illustration of Rose geranium drawn by Hello Ruby-Lou Illustration. You can find more from her here: https://www.hellorubylou.co.za/

There is a robust essential oil industry built around Rose Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) and the essential oil is commonly used in the perfume industry but also increasingly in cosmetics industry, known as Geranium oil.

Many farmers in South Africa are farming with Rose Geranium and are gaining benefit from the commercialisation of this one type of cultivar that has resulted from the mass export and hybridisation of Cape flora. This is just one example to show that you never know what the potential uses and benefits are of genetics contained in plant species. Once those genetics are captured and bred there can be many different applications to generate income.

Enjoying Geraniums in your home and garden

One of the easiest ways to enjoy the scented Pelargoniums is to purchase Geranium oil that you can find easily online or in essential oil retail stores/health stores. This oil has many applications. I use it as perfume, by dabbing a little behind my ear, I use the oil in relaxing baths and I even make lotion using the oil in combination with other indigenous botanicals. I will post a recipe for that soon.

For me, it is far more rewarding however, to grow Geraniums. They are very hardy, attractive plants that you can harvest every two weeks if they are happy and thriving.

In my garden I grow three scented, cultivar Pelargoniums: Rose (graveolens), mint (tomentosa) and lemon (scabrum) which are all readily available in nurseries all over the world and online. I harvest these by systematically “pruning” them and looking after the overall structure of the plant. I use the wet plant material in infusions: when the leaves are submerged in hot water, or in alcohol they release the oil in the leaves.

This means the fragrance releases into the fluid which you can use in any number of ways. I make Kombucha with it every two weeks, and have a number of gin infusions that contain these three beauties. Recently I made a non-alcoholic G&T syrup which you only need to add soda to, to have a refreshing, non-alcoholic cocktail.

You can find that recipe here.

https://elzannesingels.wixsite.com/endemiccape/post/indigenous-botanical-mock-g-t

In general, I love growing plants that have some sort of use or conservation significance, apart from their aesthetic appeal. In this case my three species of bred Pelargonium signify over 400 years of exploitation, which has led to robust horticultural and essential oil industries that contribute significantly to economies worldwide. The route through which this commercialisation occurred was not equitable and raise question around how modern legislation should address the equitable and sustainable commercialisation of endemic plants (the bio-economy). These plants function as a prime example of the tangible effects the plants have on the senses. I hope you too will find the joy in growing these plants, wherever you find yourself in the world, and remember where their genetic origins lie and consider how they came to be in your garden.