Botany, agronomy and biotechnology of Pelargonium used for essential oil production

Pelargonium is one of the seven genera belonging to the Geraniaceae family, and includes almost 280 species mainly coming from South Africa. Some of these species have a strong rose scent mostly due to geraniol and citronellol. For a long time, hybrids between P. graveolens or P. radens and P. capitatum, have been used for essential oil (EO) production. Nowadays, EOs of Pelargonium species are produced mainly in China and Egypt. Hybrids are male...