Pelargonium sidoides DC. - syn. Geranium sidaefolium Thunb.; Pelargonium sidaefolium (Thunb.) R.Knuth - Geraniaceae
kalwerbossie (africans), umckaloabo, South African geranium, Kapland-Pelargonie

Shrub-like perennial plant, up to 50cm high, native (endemic) to South Africa; leaves long stalked, velvety, heart-shaped; flowers reddish-purple (almost black). The roots darken as the plant ages. Extracts are made from three year old roots.
http://www.pelargonium-sidoides.com/origin/botany-and-production/

The flowers of P.sidoides are practically scentless during the day but emit an extremely strong scent during the night. The intense hyacinth related scent is dominated by 2-phenylacetaladehyde (11.5%) somewhat softened by 2-phenylethanol (0.7%), methyleugenol (16.5%), and (E)-methyl isoeugenol (33.5%).
[Scent of a vanishing flora, Roman Kaiser, 2011, 127 and 400]

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„… EPs 7630 stimulated the synthesis of IFN-β in MG 63 cells as demonstrated by a specific enzyme immunoassay. For gallic acid, a characteristic constituent, evidence for the expression of iNOS and TNF-α transcripts in stimulated RAW 264.7 cells and, hence, activation at the transcriptional level was revealed by RT-PCR. The present results, when taken together with the recently reported pharmacological activities, provide for a rationale basis of the utilization of EPs 7630 in the treatment of respiratory tract infections.“
[Pharmacological profile of extracts of Pelargonium sidoides and their constituents., Kolodziej, H., Kayser, O., Radtke, O.A., Kiderlen, A.F., Koch, E., Phytomedicine, 10, 2003, 18-24]

EPs® 7630, an extract of the root of the South African geranium Pelargonium sidoides, reduced group A-streptococci (GAS) adhesion to intact epithelial cells and thus protects the organism from bacterial colonization and infection/super-infection. The extract enhanced the attachment of bacteria to decaying buccal epithelial cells (BEC). „In this way pathogens may be trapped and rendered inactive.“
[Extract of Pelargonium sidoides (EPs® 7630) inhibits the interactions of group A-streptococci and host epithelia in vitro., Conrad, A., Jung, I., Tioua, D., Lallemand, C., Carrapatoso, F., Engels, I., Frank, U., Phytomedicine, 14, 2007, 52-59]

Polymeric polyphenols and coumarins are regarded as the principal ingredients of an aqueous ethanolic extract from roots of Pelargonium sidoides DC (EPs® 7630 of Umckaloabo®). In view of the coumarin content, it has been suggested that the administration could possibly be associated with an increased risk of bleeding, but the extract do not posses anticoagulant activitity.
[Treatment of rats with the Pelargonium sidoides extract EPs® 7630 has no effect on blood coagulation parameters or on the pharmacokinetics of warfarin., Koch, E., Biber, A., Phytomedicine, 14, 40-45, 2007]

The root extract (EPs® 7630) contained coumarins like umckalin, 6,8-dihydroxy-5,7-dimethoxycumarin, 5-hydroxy-6,7-dimethoxycumarin-8-sulfate and polyphenols (polyphenol content of ca. 22%) like catechin/epicatechin, gallocatechin/epigallocatechin, gallocatechin-4α,8-epigallocatechin, epicatechin-4β,8-epigallocatechin, gallocatechin-4α,6-gallocatechin and epigallocatechin-4β,8-epicatechin as well as proanthocyanidins (prodelphinidins).
„EPs® 7630 respectively the contained proanthocyanidins reduce the adhesiveness of group A streptococci by up to 47% (at an incubation concentration of 30 µg/ml). Here, the trihydroxylation of the B ring of the flavan-3-ol-subunits is of crucial importance for the activity, while the degree of polymerization plays a subordinate role.
EPs® 7630 has a remarkably high inhibitory activity against neuraminidase (IC50 ca. 1 µ/ml). The commercially available drugs zanamivir (IC50 ca. 18 µg/ml) and oseltamivir carboxylate (IC50 ca. 54 µg/ml) are considerably less active in the used in vitro model. The enzyme is significantly inhibited by proanthocyanidins, with a minimum chain length of three subunits.“
[Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Inhaltsstoffe und der Wirkung des Pelargonium sidoides Spezialextraktes EPs® 7630., Janecki, A., (Doctoral dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany), 2013]

„P. sidoides may be effective in alleviating symptoms of acute rhinosinusitis and the common cold in adults, but doubt exists. It may be effective in relieving symptoms in acute bronchitis in adults and children, and sinusitis in adults. The overall quality of the evidence was considered low for main outcomes in acute bronchitis in children and adults, and very low for acute sinusitis and the common cold. Reliable data on treatment for other ARIs were not identified.“
[Pelargonium sidoides extract for treating acute respiratory tract infections., Timmer, A., Günther, J., Motschall, E., Rücker, G., Antes, G., Kern, W.V., The Cochrane Library, 2013] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006323.pub3/full

„Cases of liver damage and hepatitis have been reported in association with the use of Pelargonium-containing products; the frequency is not known… Studies on liver toxicity were controversial among experts as a causality between extract intake and liver damage is not clearly prove.“ http://www.pharmazeutische-zeitung.de/index.php?id=51567
„After having conducted a hearing within a graduated plan („Stufenplan“) procedure, the BfArM has now issued a notice regarding the risk of liver damage due to medicinal products containing pelargonium root.“
[Medicinal products containing pelargonium: Risk of liver damage, BfArM, March 2014] http://www.bfarm.de/SharedDocs/Risikoinformationen/Pharmakovigilanz/EN/RV_STP/m-r/pelargonium.html

Pelargonium sidoides, 3. Botanischer Garten der Universität Wien (HBV) 2017; author: Rolf Marschner, www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at