''Geranium macrorrhizum'' is a
species of
hardy
Hardy may refer to:
People
* Hardy (surname)
* Hardy (given name)
* Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica
* Mount Hardy, Enderby Land
* Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island
* Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands
Australia
* Hardy, Sout ...
flowering
herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of t ...
perennial plant in the
genus ''Geranium'',
family Geraniaceae. It is
native to the South east Alps and the Balkans. Its common names include bigroot geranium,
Bulgarian geranium,
[ and rock crane's-bill.]groundcover
Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows over an area of ground. Groundcover provides protection of the topsoil from erosion and drought.
In an ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as t ...
, with named cultivars selected for flower colors from white through pink to magenta. The cultivars ' Ingwersen's Variety' (pale pink) and 'White-ness' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit
The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions.
History
The Award of Garden Merit ...
.[Niko S Radulović, Milan S Dekić, Zorica Z Stojanović-Radić, Suad K Zoranić. ''Geranium macrorrhizum'' L. (Geraniaceae) essential oil: a potent agent against ''Bacillus subtilis''. Chemistry biodiversity (2010). Volume: 7, Issue: 11, Pages: 2783-2800]
/ref> The name for all types of geraniums in general in the Bulgarian language is derived from the word ''здрав'', which can translate as 'healthy', among a few related concepts. An essential oil
An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the o ...
from it is also used in aromatherapy. In addition to oils, it contains flavonoids, sesquiterpenes, phenolic acids, pigments, vitamins, and mineral salts.
One of the many components of the essential oil is the sesquiterpene ketone germacrone
Germacrone is a sesquiterpene which has been isolated from ''Geranium macrorrhizum''. It has shown antiviral properties in an animal model
An animal model (short for animal disease model) is a living, non-human, often genetic-engineered animal ...
, which has been shown to have a high and selective antimicrobial activity against the species '' Bacillus subtilis''.[
File:Geranium macrorrhizum004.jpg
File:Bulgarian_geranium_with_white_flowers.jpg, White-flowered variety
]
References
macrorrhizum
Flora of France
Flora of Bulgaria
Flora of Italy
Garden plants of Europe
Groundcovers
Medicinal plants of Europe
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
{{Geraniaceae-stub