Geranium macrorrhizum is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant species in the genus Geranium. Its common names include bigroot geranium, Bulgarian geranium, zdravetz and rock crane's-bill.

Cultivation and uses

Geranium macrorrhizum is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

 for gardens. The perennial is used as a flowering groundcover, with named cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

s selected for flower colors from white through pink to magenta.

The plant is used for medical purposes in the traditional herbal medicine since it posseses high antimicrobial

Antimicrobial

An anti-microbial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans. Antimicrobial drugs either kill microbes or prevent the growth of microbes...

 properties. 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...

 is prepared from it so it is also used in the 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....

. Zdravets contains considereble amounts of germacrone so as other chemicals as sesquiterpenes.

External links

• Geraniaceae: Ground Cover Geraniums