Geranium EO

Latin name :

Pelargonium graveolens

Botanical profile :

The geranium used in perfumery is a species of the Geraniaceae family and the Pelargonium genus. It is actually a hybrid between Pelargonium capitatum and Pelargonium radens.

Geographic origin :

This plant, native to South Africa where it grows in the wild, is nowadays mainly produced in China, Europe and Egypt. China and France are the two largest producers of this essential oil. There is also a geranium called ''Bourbon '', cultivated on the island of Reunion.

Chemotypes :

The several varieties of geranium differentiate according to their place of culture by the composition of their essential oil:
The geranium from North Africa, like the geranium of Egypt, is the only variety containing 10-Epi-gamma-Eudesmol in its essential oil.
The first distinction between the geranium from China and the one from Reunion is in their rate of Citronellyl Formate as it is about 2% for the Chinese and about 7% for bourbon. If Citronellyl Formate has been added to the essential oil from China, it is by crossing the ratios of Citronellol / Geraniol, Linalool + Geraniol / Geraniol among others that we can differentiate with physicochemical data between them.
Chinese geranium is less lemony and powdery, but more minthy than the Egyptian one, which is more terpenic. The rosiest one is the Geranium Bourbon EO.
In addition, there are other species of geranium belonging to the genus Pellargonium: geranium citronella (Pelargonium denticulatum) and geranium mint (Pelargonium tomentosum) belong to it.

Extraction process :

Growing in a Mediterranean environment, geraniums are usually planted around november. The flowering happens a couple of months later, around March-April. The part which interests the producers being the leaves and not the flowers, the harvest takes place after the bloom, in June-July. Stem bunches and leaves are cutted, grouped together and brought to the factory for traditional extraction. Ideally, extraction is done on the dry plant. If it is not hot enough during cultivation, the leaves are dried 24 to 72 hours before extraction. In the vessel, they are pressed barefoot to put 300 to 500 kg of plants in. It consists in heating the leaves without adding water, to evaporate the plant's water and recover the essential oil from the process by settling. The extraction yield varies around 0.5 %.
In addition, it is possible to extract these same parts of the plant using a volatile solvent, which will result in the production of a concrete, which will then deliver about 60% absolute, after dilution of the concrete in alcohol, chilling, filtration and evaporation of the solvent. We then talk about a Geranium Absolute

Major Components :

For China :
Citronellol (32-43%)
Citronellyl Formate (7 - 12%)
Geraniol (5 - 12%)
Isomenthone (4 - 7%)
Linalool (2 - 4,5%)
Rose Oxide (Z) (1,3 - 3,5%)
Geranyl Formate (1- 3%)
Rose Oxide (E) (0,5 - 1,5%)
Geranyl Butyrate (0,4 - 1%)
Alpha-Terpineol (<0,5%)
10-épi-γ-Eudesmol (Traces)

For Madagascar :
Citronellol (18 - 26%)
Geraniol (10 - 20%)
Citronellyl Formate (6 - 11%)
Isomenthone (5 - 10%)
Linalool (4 - 10%)
Geranyl Formate (4 - 7%)
Alpha-Terpineol (<1%)
Geranyl Butyrate (0,7 - 1,7%)
Rose Oxide (Z) (0,4 - 1,4%)
Rose Oxide (E) (0,1 - 0,6%)
10-épi-γ-Eudesmol (Traces)
Traceurs : Citronellyl Formate

For Egypt & N/africa :
Citronellol (25 - 36%)
Geraniol (8 - 10%)
Linalool (4 - 8,5%)
Isomenthone (4 - 8%)
Citronellyl Formate (4 - 8%)
10-épi-γ-Eudesmol (3 - 6%)
Geranyl Formate (2 - 7%)
Alpha-Terpineol (<1%)
Geranyl Butyrate (0,7 - 2%)
Rose Oxide (Z) (0,7 - 1,5%)
Rose Oxide (E) (0,3 - 0,6%)
Traceurs : Citronellyl Formate // 10-épi-γ-Eudesmol

For Bourbon Quality :
cf. Geranium Bourbon EO