South African geranium (Pelargonium sidoides)
Description
Pelargonium sidoides is a medicinal plant native to South Africa. Its common names include African geranium and South African geranium. Root extract of Pelargonium sidoides is used as cold and flu medicine under various brand names including Umckaloabo, Kaloba, Umcka and Zucol. The quality of evidence to support its use is low to very low. African geranium forms a basal rosette of cordate leaves with a velvet texture and a few short trichomes on long petioles. Its flowers have five dark red to nearly black petals, two of which are sometimes fused. It is often found in flower nearly year-round. It prefers to grow in grasslands with rocky soils. It can be difficult to distinguish from Pelargonium reniforme which grows in a similar area, but tends to have more kidney-shaped leaves.
Taxonomic tree
-
Domain: Eukarya
-
-
Kingdom: Plantae
-
-
Phylum:
-
-
Class: Magnoliopsida
-
-
Order: Geraniales
-
-
Family: Geraniaceae
-
-
Genus: Pelargonium
-
-
-
-
-
-
