Pelargonium graveolens

Pelargonium graveolens is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 in the Pelargonium

Pelargonium

Pelargonium is a genus of flowering plants which includes about 200 species of perennials, succulents, and shrubs, commonly known as scented geraniums or storksbills. Confusingly, Geranium is the correct botanical name of a separate genus of related plants often called Cranesbills. Both Geranium...

genus, which is indigenous to various parts of southern Africa, and in particular South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. It is often called geranium as it falls within the plant family Geraniaceae

Geraniaceae

Geraniaceae is a family of flowering plants placed in the order Geraniales. The family name is derived from the genus Geranium. It includes both the genus Geranium and the garden plants called geraniums, which modern botany classifies as genus Pelargonium, along with other related genera.There are...

, although more correctly, it is referred to as Pelargonium. This specific species has great importance in the perfume

Perfume

Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...

 industry. It is cultivated on a large scale and its foliage is distilled

Distillation

Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....

 for its scent. P. graveolens cultivars have a wide variety of smells, including rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

, citrus

Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...

, mint

Mentha

Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...

, coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

 and nutmeg

Nutmeg

The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...

, as well as various fruits. However, the most commercially important varieties are those that have rose scents.

Synonym

Common names include rose geranium , old fashion rose geranium, and rose-scent geranium. Pelargonium graveolens is also known by taxonomic synonyms "Geranium terebinthinaceum Cav." and Pelargonium terebinthinaceum (Cav.) Desf." "Rose geranium" is sometimes used to refer to "Pelargonium incrassatum (Andrews) Sims" or its synonym "Pelargonium roseum - the herbal name- (Andrews) DC."
Commercial vendors often list the source of geranium or rose geranium essential oil as Pelargonium graveolens regardless of its herbal botanical name.

Uses

Pelargonium distillates and absolutes, commonly known as "geranium oil," is sold for aromatherapy

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile plant materials, known as essential oils, and other aromatic compounds for the purpose of altering a person's mind, mood, cognitive function or health....

 and massage therapy applications is sometimes used to supplement or adulterate more expensive rose oil

Rose oil

Rose oil, meaning either rose otto or rose absolute, is the essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of rose...

s. Other applications include

• Natural insect repellent
  Insect repellent
  An insect repellent is a substance applied to skin, clothing, or other surfaces which discourages insects from landing or climbing on that surface. There are also insect repellent products available based on sound production, particularly ultrasound...
  
  
• Cake ingredient (flowers and leaves)
• Jam and jellies ingredient (flowers and leaves)
• Ice creams and Sorbets ingredient (flowers and leaves)
• Salad ingredient (flowers)
• Dietary supplement (Methylhexaneamine)
• Sugar flavoring (leaves)

Variety

A variety that matches this name is Lady Plymouth Geranium. Rose Geranium's botanical name is Pelargonium radula

Toxicology

The flower contains 0.6-1% methylhexaneamine, which has not been studied intensively and its pharmacological profile has not been evaluated since Eli Lilly filed its patent in 1944, stating that the stimulant effects on the CNS

Central nervous system

The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...

 are less than that of amphetamine

Amphetamine

Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...

 and ephedrine

Ephedrine

Ephedrine is a sympathomimetic amine commonly used as a stimulant, appetite suppressant, concentration aid, decongestant, and to treat hypotension associated with anaesthesia....

.

The LD50

LD50

In toxicology, the median lethal dose, LD50 , LC50 or LCt50 of a toxin, radiation, or pathogen is the dose required to kill half the members of a tested population after a specified test duration...

 for methylhexaneamine is 39 mg/kg for intravenous and 185 mg/kg for intraperitoneal administration (mouse). This is equivalent to 2.65 grams intravenously injected for a 150 lb(68 kg) adult. The true LD50 for humans is unknown; a typical dose for supplementation with the pure extract is 25-50mg, or about 0.5mg per kg of body weight.

In 2009, the World Anti-Doping Agency

World Anti-Doping Agency

The World Anti-Doping Agency , , is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee . It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne", to promote, coordinate and...

 added methylhexanamine to the 2010 prohibited list.

See also

• Anethum graveolens
• Apium graveolens
• Essential oil
  Essential oil
  An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils or aetherolea, or simply as the "oil of" the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove...
  
  
• Ruta graveolens
• Stanhopea graveolens
  Stanhopea graveolens
  Stanhopea graveolens is a species of orchid occurring from Mexico to Honduras....