Pelargonium cucullatum is a hairy, upright, branching, perennial shrub, of 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) high, that has been assigned to the cranesbill family.

It has alternately set, sometimes slightly succulent leaves crowded near the top of the branches, with leaf stalks and flat to hood-shaped leaf blades, with a rounded broad triangular to kidney-shaped outline of about 4–5.5 cm (1+3⁄5–2+1⁄5 in) long and 5–9 cm (2–3+3⁄5 in) wide, often somewhat incised, the margin with irregular teeth.

The white to purplish red, 5-merous, somewhat mirror symmetrical flowers grow in umbel-like clusters, and each contain mostly 7 fertile stamens and 3 infertile staminodes (best checked in the bud) of different length.

[1][2] Pelargonium cucullatum is a hairy, upright, branching, perennial shrub of 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) high, with a taproots and underground runners from which intermittent shoots arise.

The undivided leaf blade is flat to cup-shaped, with a firm to somewhat succulent, rounded, broadly triangular to kidney-shaped outline of about 4–5.5 cm (1+3⁄5–2+1⁄5 in) long and 5–9 cm (2–3+3⁄5 in) wide, often somewhat incised, the margin with irregular teeth, particularly near the base, occasionally accentuated by a red line or a row of hairs, and a heart-shaped to wedge-shaped base.

[1] As in all Pelargonium species, the posterior sepal is fused with the pedicel forming the nectary tube or hypanthium, and in P. cucullatum, it is 5–12 mm (0.20–0.47 in) long, felty hairy, green or reddish brown.

strigifolium also has more or less angularly incised leaves, but these are covered in straight hairs that all point in the same direction (or strigose).

[1] The hooded-leaf pelargonium was first collected for science by Dutch botanist Paul Hermann in 1672, and was probably found on the slopes of Table Mountain.

Spanish botanist Antonio José Cavanilles described and illustrated Pelargonium acerifolium in his Monadelphiae Classis Dissertationes Decem.

Volschenk, Van der Walt & Vorster in their 1982 revision of Pelargonium cucullatum considered all of these names synonymous to subsp.

[3] A recent comparison of homologous DNA resulted in the following relationship tree:[4] P. graveolens, P. radens, P. vitifolium P. hispidum, P. papilonaceum, P. tomentosum P. betulinum, P. hermanniifolium, P. laevigatum, P. lanceolatum P. cucullatum P. cordifolium P. fruticosum P. patulum P. grandiflorum, P. alpinum, P. sublignosum P. crispum P. englerianum P. citronellum P. scabrum, P. setulosum, P. incarnatum P. ternatum The name of the species cucullatum is Latin and means "hood", which refers to the cupped leaves.

Subspecies cucullatum occurs on the east coast of the Cape Peninsula and the Kogelberg, growing on sandy and well-drained soil that receives 400–800 mm (16–31 in) precipitation per year.

tabulare can be found on the south and west coast, and the inland of the Cape Peninsula, but it also occurs around Saldanha Bay.

It occurs on a variety of soils derived from sandstone, shale, tillite and granite, always above about 300 m (980 ft) altitude, receiving 600–1,000 mm (24–39 in) precipitation annually.

[1] The populations of all three subspecies of Pelargonium cucullatum in the wild are stable and their continued survival is considered to be of least concern.