Scarlet Unique Geranium

Common Name: Scarlet Unique Geranium^[1]

Scientific Name: Pelargonium fulgidum hybrid (P. x ignescens)

Description: Tender perennial, grown as houseplant; brilliant vermilion-red flowers with a black center; soft green, aromatic foliage

Size: Grows upright into a 2 to 3 foot open and spreading plant

Cultural Information: Prefers full sun and rich, somewhat heavy, well-drained soil; easily propagated from cuttings in late winter or early spring of plants carried over indoors

USDA Zones: 10 and above

Historical Notes: Imported from South and West Africa into Britain by 1723, this species was included in the list of greenhouse plants in Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon's The American Gardener's Calendar, 1806 as "Celandine-leaved Geranium."^[2] The variety -€˜Scarlet Unique' or -€˜Old Scarlet Unique' is a hybrid of garden origin documented in cultivation by 1812.

Footnotes

1. ↑ This article is based on a Center for Historic Plants Information Sheet.
2. ↑ McMahon, 618. See also 83, 160, 355, 419, and 444.

Further Sources

• Stuart, David and James Sutherland. Plants from the Past: Old Flowers for New Gardens. London: Penguin Books, 1989
• Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants