The Geranium Family in Perfumery

THE GERANIUM FAMILY IN PERFUMERY By E. S. MAURER, F.L.S., M.R.I.* A detailed examination o1' the members o1' the Geranium •mily, the classification o! their odours and the derived essential oils with uses and applications in perhunery. THE GERANIUMis one of those flowers of which the naming of the garden versionsis somewhat confused,for what most people commonly call a geraniumis not the geraniumof the botanist. The familiar, showy,scarlet- floweredplants so widely usedfor bedding-outpurposes are really pelargoniums,another branch of the same family. The Geraniaceseis an extensivefamily of herbaceousplants and shrubs originally introduced to this country from South Africa about 1675 and now acclimatisedto the temperateregions of the northernhemisphere. It comprisessome twenty generaand upwardsof 750 species. Apart from the flowersit is the foliagewhich is of particularinterest, for that of some speciesexhibits a pleasantlystrong, aromatic resinous scent or a balsamic- citron nuance. In a few instances,however, somewhat nauseating odours are to be found. Furthermore,many of the generahave remarkable astrin- gentproperties, and the tuberousroots of somespecies are eitheredible or usedmedicinally--the term "alum root" for the driedrhizome of Geranium maculatumproviding a casein point. Thetrue cultivated geraniums are hardy perennials or rockplants having brightcrimson, scarlet, red, pink, lilac, mauve, blue or whiteflowers. Some of them are seldomseen unless in a specialcollection, and these,together with the manyhybrids among the pelargoniums,are the particularinterest of the BritishGeranium Society. Thereis quite an extensiveliterature on the subject,the source-bookof whichwould appear to be the five-volume anonymouscontribution upon the "Gerania"(London, 1820-1828). Of theprototype, there are some 15 species of geraniumsgrowing wild in GreatBritain, some of whichare rarely encountered these days, but of the familiarand easily recognisable plants, Geranium Robertianum, the little crimsonherb-Robert, G. pratense,the bluemeadow crane's-bill, and the palehlac G. molle,the dove's-footcrane's-bill, are found in mostfields and waste places. ETYMOLOGY AND HISTORY In compilingthese studies, • the names of the wild flowers form a prelude to theexamination of thegenera within the N.O. under consideration. It is * Lautier Fils, London. THE GERANIUM FAMILY IN PERFUMERY instructive to observe how frequently not only in the Latin and Greek substantivesbut in the homelycountry names as foundin mostEm opean languages,the matrix is preservedand perpetuatedin a brief description centred upon a fancied resemblanceof somepart of a plant to an animal. Thus we find such examplesas adder's-tongue,colt's-foot, dogwood, fox- glove,hound's-tongue, snake-root, wolf's-bane and many others,while quite a number of avian references are also to be discovered. In this direction we have alreadyseen mention of larkspursand the ibis associationwith hibiscus, to which may now be added a botanicallyinteresting trinity, becauseit is from the Greek, geranos= a crane, that this family derives its generic name, a further contributionbeing made by the sub-orders,the Erodiums, erodios= a heron, and the Pelargoniurns,palargos = a stork. In miniature, the ripe seedsof theseplants bear a superficialresemblance to a crane'shead with its longbill. This fanciedappearance was noted by Dioscorides(an army surgeonto Roman troopscirca A.I). $$), who commented uponthis class of whatwe now term "explosive"fruits, i.e., sogreat a tension isbuilt up in the ripeningcapsules on a hot sunnyday that theyare suddenly rupturedand catapult the seedsto a considerabledistance from the.parent planl•wa proclivity which is observedto a remarkabledegree in another genusof this family, namely, the Impatiens or Balsams. TI-IE WILD GERANIUMS Attention is first directedto the prototype GeraniumRobertianurn, the familiar crimson-or purple-floweredherb Robert of the country roadsides and woodlands. There are severalalternative suggestionsto accountfor the chgiceof name,probably the mostlikely being its derivationfrom Robert, Duke of Normandy, for whom was written the celebratedmedieval medicaltreatise--Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanurn. AsI ambeginning to findusual, the countrynames afford an interesting insightinto the potentialsof the family, for, in this case,the plant is aptly termed"red shanks"because of its very long,thin red stalksand, in autumn, a particularlybright crimsonfoliage; hencesome of its other sobriquets, e.g., dragoh'sblood and blood-wort. In this direction,it is recordedby the old herbaliststhat Nature seems to have set a blood-red seal upon several.of her herbs to indicate their virtue of being able to stop bleedings,this and the tutsan {Hypericurn androsaernurn)have long beenregarded as the two best remediesafforded by the fieldsfor the rapid controlof internaland external h•emorrhages. This russettinge and trend is still morenotable in G. sanguineurnand, as previouslymentioned, it is not undulysurprising to find a namesuch as alumroot bestowed upon the purple-floweredG. rnaculaturn,when it is known that therhizomes contain upwards of 30 percent of tannicacid, thus prorid- 4 JOURNALOF THE SOCIETYOF COSMETICCHEMISTS ing a further instanceof natural astringentswhich may prove of cosmetic interest as an alternative to Witchhazel extracts for facial and other lotions. DIVERSITY OF ODOURS It is somewhatsurprising to find the extent of the odourgamut among the geraniumsand pelargoniums.E.J. Parry in the Chemistryof Essential Oils lists some40 speciesbased upon the odoursas classifiedby E. M. Holmesin the P. & E. 0. R. (1913,p. 372),while D. McDonald,in Fragrant Flowersand Leaves (1895), among some 30 entries,mentions some varieties not foundin the later list. From theseI haveselected a representativecollec- tion, as is seenin the appendedtable. A BRIEF LIST OF THE SCENTED-LEAVED GERANIUMS AND PELARGONIUMS Citrus scented: Abrotanifolium Southernwood Asperium .. Verbena Ci'triodora .. Strong lemon Variegatum .. Soft, sweet lemon Crispurn major Lemon-verbena Crispurn minor Citronella Prince of Orange Sweet lemon Lady Scarborough Sweet lemon Triste (Night-scented Lemon-balm Rose scented: Capitaturn .. .. Rose and diphenyl oxide, Graveolens .. Rose and rue Odoratissimum'' .. Rose and tansy Attar of Roses ß. Strong rose ! Herbal type: Clorinda .. Eucalyptus (cineol) Endsleigh Peppermint, Citronella Moore'sVictor«' Ditto Tormentosum .. Ditto Lady Mary .. Ditto Little Gem .. Ditto Balsatalc type: Cedronellum .... .... Balm of Gilead Quercifolium .... .... Balsamic-balm Glutinosum .. .... Labdanum type Radulavitifolid• .. .... Ditto Radula balsameum .. .... Ditto Miscellaneous: Fulgidum .... Butyric Exstipulatum .... Pennyroyal Glaucifolium . Clove-hyacinth Atrum(night-s•;nted)' Ditto Unique aurore .... Pungent aromatic White Unique .... Ditto Pretty Polly .... Almond scented THE GERANIUM FAMILY IN PERFUMERY 5 This presentsthe pleasantnuances of rose,or rosein conjunctionwith lemon,citronella, eucalyptus, peppermint, pennyroyal, nutmeg, almond, clove,hyacinth a•d balsam; conversely,with the butyric elementvery prominent, we may record some decidedly unpleasant combinations,as we may note from such further epithets bestowedupon herb-Robert as "foxy-geranium"and "stinking Bob," for the foliagewhen bruisedemits a stale, sickly, caproic and skatole•-taintedeffluvium, similar to the odour ascribed to badgers, weasels and foxes--a characteristic which is also observedwith the foliage of someof the "musky" Erodiums,such pelar- goniumsas P. fulgid•m, P. abrotanifoliumand also with the deadnettle (Lamiumalbum), the wood-strawberry(Fragaria v•sca) and the weasel-snout (Galeobdolon luteurn) . THE SCENTED "GERANIUMS" It is alsoremarkable that the botanytexts concernedwith Europeand N. America only afford informationupon about a dozen speciesof the indigenouswild geraniums,and with the exceptionof the feral smell of herb-Robert,none of the remainingvarieties exhibit the slightestapproach to the geraniumodour so familiar to us in our everydaywork. It would thereforeseem that the scentedvarieties of our gardenshave originatedfrom acclimatisationand cultivation of stock transferred from the native habitat of South Africa, and sometimesexhibiting a prodigious growth (for I observefrom GardenFlowers in Colour, by G. A. Stevens, publishedin 1939 by the MacmillanCompany of New York, that: "The well-knownbedding geranium of Northerngardens is a shrubin California, climbingup the sidesof housesand overfences. Its round,velvety, scented foliageis particularlyhandsome and immune to insectpests, while its jolly, comfortable-lookingflowers are exceedinglybrilliant and long lasting . there are many different geraniums,and the plants which we commonly grow under this name are really pelargoniums. The true geraniumsare mostly wildings, suitable for natural plantings or rock-gardens. None of them is very showy,although most speciesare acceptablypretty."). From the country of their origin I have a note regarding one of the mountaingeraniums, locally known as the Wilde Malfa (P. cucullat•m). This is reportedto growinto fair-sizebushes about the size of a smallhay- rick. To cometo the more prosaicplants, however,I note that the earlier gardenmanuals list somesixty varietiesof the "true" geraniums,among whichthe mostimportant would seemto be the scarlet-floweredG. odoratissimum,described as the geranium-oilplant. There is alsothe large-rooted, purple-floweredG. macrorhi•um,the blossomsas well as the leavesof which aredescribed

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