Pelargonium sidoides

Pelargonium sidoides DC. (Geraniaceae), also known as ‘African geranium’, is a small perennial, rosette-like plant with crowded leaves and distinctive dark, reddish-purple flowers. The roots of the plant have long been used in South African traditional medicine for the treatment of sore throat, congestion, bronchitis, diarrhoea and dysentery. Pelargonium sidoides occurs in the Western Cape, throughout the Eastern Cape, parts of Gauteng, North West, Free State and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa, and in Lesotho. A well-known commercial herbal tincture, known as Umckaloabo®, is available on the international market, among other P. sidoides products marketed for the management of upper respiratory tract infections. Both in vitro and in vivo activities have been extensively investigated and documented. Using a semi-automated high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) system and ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and photodiode array detection (UPLC–MS–PDA), the chemical profiles of P. sidoides were obtained. The profiles of the methanol extracts viewed under 366 nm radiation, after derivatisation using potassium hydroxide reagent, revealed the presence of umckalin. In addition to umckalin, magnolioside was also identified in the UPLC–MS chromatogram.