Pelargonium is a genus of flowering plants which includes about 200 species of perennials, succulents, and shrubs, commonly known as geraniums or storksbills. Confusingly, Geranium is the correct botanical name of a separate genus of related plants often called Cranesbills. Both genera are in the Family Geraniaceae. They are drought and heat tolerant, but can tolerate only minor frosts. Some species are extremely popular garden plants, grown as bedding plants in temperate regions.

Pelargonium crithmifolium commonly known as Samphire-leaved Pelargonium is a South African indigenous species from the Northern Cape and Western Cape Provinces. This plant is the granddaddy of all pelargoniums, as it is one of the bulkiest plants in the Pelargonium group. This plant is a succulent perennial shrublet. The stems are thick and fleshy with knobs on them, and greenish yellow with peeling bark. Pelargonium crithmifolium is summer deciduous. The plant is able to photosynthesize through its greenish bark. This unusual characteristic is seen in a number of other summer deciduous plants from the arid winter rainfall areas. It is nature’s way of surviving the dry summer heat. The succulent leaves are usually tightly bunched together on the tips of the branches. They are pinnately divided (divided into smaller leaflets). The leaves, when crushed, have a ginger and nutmeg smell. Flowers are produced in umbels of normally 4 to 8 at a time. Flowering time is anywhere from May to October. The plants generally grow very slowly. This is especially the case where plants are cultivated from seed. Under ideal conditions it can take five years for a plant to reach a height of 1 m. They can live for more than forty years.