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Home › Glossary › Geranium Macrorrhizum (Zdravetz)
Geranium Macrorrhizum (Zdravetz)
GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES / green · fresh · floral
Geranium Macrorrhizum (Zdravetz)
Category
GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES
Subcategory
green · fresh · floral
Origin
Volatility
Heart Note
Botanical
Geranium macrorrhizum
Appearance
Dark olive green viscous liquid to semi-crystalline
Odor Strength
Medium
Producing Countries
Bulgaria
Pyramid
Heart
Green, rosy-herbal, with a particular earthy-musky depth. Zdravetz smells like wild Balkan geranium after rain -- pungent leaves, damp soil, and a warm rose-like sweetness rising from the roots.
Green-herbal, rosy, with a particular earthy-musky depth from germacrone. Earthier and less citrusy than Pelargonium geranium, with a warm, almost animalic undertone. The rose quality is present but surrounded by green leaves and damp soil. Think of wild geranium on a Balkan mountainside rather than a pruned garden pelargonium.
Germacrone warmth dominates, rose softens, earthy base
After a few days
After a few days
Warm, musky-woody trace, quiet and persistent
Terroir & Transformation
Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.
The Full Story
Geranium macrorrhizum (zdravetz, bigroot geranium) is a different plant from the Pelargonium graveolens used for standard geranium oil in perfumery. Native to the Balkans, zdravetz grows wild in Bulgarian and Macedonian mountain forests. The essential oil, steam-distilled from the aerial parts, has a character distinct from pelargonium: greener, earthier, more musky, and with a pronounced germacrone content.
The volatile profile is dominated by germacrone (a sesquiterpene with a warm, woody-earthy character), geraniol and citronellol (rosy), and green-herbal terpenes. What makes zdravetz unique is the ratio: the germacrone gives it a musky, almost animalic depth absent from pelargonium geranium. Bulgarian perfumers and aromatherapists consider it a distinct material with its own identity.
In perfumery, zdravetz functions as a rosy-green heart note with unusual earthy-musky depth. It bridges rose and patchouli territory: floral enough for a rose accord, earthy enough for a woody-green one. The note works in chypre, green-floral, and Balkan-terroir compositions.
This note in Première Peau. Simili Mirage · Gravitas Capitale. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
Zdravetz means 'health' in Bulgarian -- the plant has been used in Balkan folk medicine for centuries. During the Communist era, Bulgaria invested heavily in zdravetz oil production as an export product, creating state-run distilleries in the Rhodope Mountains.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Steam distillation of fresh or dried aerial parts (leaves, stems, flowers) of Geranium macrorrhizum. Production is concentrated in Bulgaria. Oil yield is approximately 0.1-0.3%.
Dark olive green viscous liquid to semi-crystalline
Flash Point
> 200.00 °F. TCC ( > 93.33 °C. )
Specific Gravity
0.93800 to 0.96800 @ 20.00 °C.
Refractive Index
1.50030 to 1.51890 @ 20.00 °C.
In Perfumery
Zdravetz (Geranium macrorrhizum) is a rosy-green heart note with earthy-musky depth, distinct from standard pelargonium geranium oil. Its high germacrone content provides a warm, woody-animalic undertone absent from pelargonium. The oil bridges rose and patchouli territory. It works in chypre, green-floral, and Balkan-terroir compositions. Pairs with rose, vetiver, oakmoss, and bergamot.
