Commonly called the golden root or rose root, the plant grows in the cold regions of the world. In Russia and Scandinavia, R. rosea has been used for centuries to cope with the cold Siberian climate and stressful life. The plant has been used in traditional Chinese medicine. R. rosea extract is mainly used in the form of capsules, tablets or tinctures.

Cosmetic use

The root extract is classed as an emollient, skin protecting, antioxidant, cosmetic astringent and skin-conditioning agent and used in several popular herbal cosmetics.

The dried rhizomes yield an essential oil with a total of 86 compounds identified. Geraniol was identified as the most important rose-like odour compound besides geranyl formate, geranyl acetate, benzyl alcohol and phenylethyl alcohol. Its oxygenated metabolite rosiridol is an aglycon of rosiridin, one of the most active constituents of rhodiola in bioassay-guided fractionation of rhodiolathe extract.