Geranium Is a Scent Worth Remembering
A Brief Overview
Geranium flowers grow in many gardens throughout the United States and around the world. This fragrant perennial plant, taxonomically identified in the genus Pelargonium, is known for its distinctly powerful leafy-rose scent. There are over 250 natural species of Pelargionium with hundred of hybrids and thousands of cultivars (variety produced by selective breeding). Although commonly known as geranium, there is genus with the same name. The genus Geranium and the genus Pelargonium share the same family (Geraniaceae) but they are different from one another in their cultivation as well as their botanical features. Species of plant in Geranium are known to be hardy and can grow almost anywhere. Pelargonium species on the other hand are specifically cultivated and are of great commercial value. They can also be distinguished by their differing flower patterns.
Although geranium has been used for thousands of years going back to the Greeks and Romans, it was not until the late 17th century that this plant, indigenous to South Africa, was introduced to Europe. Soon after European introduction hybrid cultivars were created and distributed around the world. During the Victorian era, potted rose geranium was often kept in parlors in order to revive the senses. Another Victorian practice was to place geranium leaves in finger bowls at formal dining tables. Today, as in Victorian times, the most widely used Pelargonium species is Pelargonium grave lens, or rose geranium. The essential oil of rose geranium is prized by aroma therapists and cosmologists alike. P. graveolens is used in aromatherapy for its medicinal applications such as an antiseptic, as a haemostatic (stops bleeding), a tonic to regulate the nervous system, a diuretic (to treat edema) and a hormone balancer. In the perfume industry, rose geranium oil is often mixed in or even replaces the more expensive rose petal essential oil. Cosmologists also use this aromatic oil in lotion, soaps, shampoos and creams. One might presume that geranium essential oil comes from the flower alone, yet it is the leaves and branches where the oil glands are found and through a process of steam distillation the oil is extracted. In order to increase the yield of oil during this procedure, processors will often partially dry the plant.
Beginning in the 1880s the much revered French perfume industry established extensive plantations of geranium on Reunion (a small French island located in the Indian Ocean). Geranium oil is also produced in other parts of the world namely China, Egypt, and Morocco. Geranium oils are usually distinguished by its country of origin prefix with the Reunion (known as Bourbon) essential oil regarded as the most significant variety of geranium oil due to its pronounced rosy fragrance as well as potent medicinal qualities.
Geranium May Be a Medical Treatment Option
In recent years, the main media have reported on the rise of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. This week in the news is no exception. In the January 2010 issue of Microbiology, researchers from the National University of Ireland in Galway published their findings on how disinfectants might lead to bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics, especially in hospitals. It is standard hospital procedure to use surface disinfectants to prevent the spread of bacteria; if disinfectants are non-effective than antibiotics are used. The study looked at the response of the gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa (known to be the cause of many hospital infections) to increasing amounts of disinfectant. What they found were bacteria not only able to develop immunity from the disinfectant but also become resistant to ciprofloxacin (a commonly-prescribed antibiotic) without direct exposure to the drug. Researchers conclude that bacteria resistance to both controls could be a serious threat to hospital patients and thus urge medical practitioners to rethink how infections are handled.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is wide-spread in soil and water and any surface in contact with soil or water. Yet, it is an opportunistic microbe and will only infect a compromised host or tissues of that host that have been compromised in some way. It is an epitome of an opportunistic host in humans. If a person’s immune system is compromised, it can cause urinary tract infections, respiratory system infections, dermatitis, soft tissue infections, bacteremia, bone and joint infections, gastrointestinal infections and a variety of systemic infections, particularly in patients with severe burns and in cancer and AIDS patients who are immunosuppressed. As seen above, P. aeruginosa can be a serious threat to patients in hospitals, especially patients with cancer, burns and cystic fibrosis. The case fatality rate in these patients is near 50 percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the overall prevalence of P. aeruginosa infections in US hospitals is approximately 4 per 1000 discharges (0.4%). According to one report, the gastrointestinal infection rates among hospitalized patients increases to 20% within 72 hours of admission. With such findings, it is clear that other solutions must be found.
There is a potential solution to this growing concern of current hospital antimicrobial practices. In a 2006 study conducted by Loyola College in India (BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2006 Nov 30; 6:39) researchers found that geranium oil (along with several other essential oils) exhibited strong activity against selected bacterial strains, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Other bacteria strains shown to be affected by the in vitro (outside a living organism, usually in a test tube or Petri dish) application of geranium oil were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia , Proteus vulgaris and Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus.
Things to Consider
Geranium essential oil has been praised for centuries for its medicinal qualities and beginning in the late 1800s for its aromatic fragrance in perfumes and cosmetics. Species of Pelargonium are found in flower gardens throughout the world. In recent times, with the rise of drug resistant pathogens, essential oils such as geranium have evoked interest as an alternative remedy in treating and preventing many infectious diseases. It is clear that the spread of drug resistant pathogens, such as P. aeruginosa, is one of the most serious threats to hospital patients. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a majority of the world’s population depends on traditional medicine for primary healthcare. There may come at time in the near future where the entire world will once again turn to the medicinal qualities of plants and their constituents as a main source of illness recovery and wellness.
Learn more about aromatic botanicals through reading high vibe aromatherapy books.