Pelargonium has its centre for diversity in the Cape region in South Africa, where there is a striking vegetative and floral variation.
The larvae feed on a wide range of herbaceous plants, including Asteraceae, Convolvulaceae, Fabaceae, Geraniaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, Linaceae, Papaveraceae, Polygonaceae, Rosaceae, Scrophulariaceae and Violaceae species.
Reinhard Gustav Paul Knuth (1874–1957) was a German taxonomist, botanist and pteridologist responsible for "Initia florae venezuelensis" in 1928, and numerous contributions to Adolf Engler's "Das Pflanzenreich" on Geraniaceae, Oxalidaceae, Lecythidaceae, and other families.