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Bulletin of Botanical Research ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (3): 517-530.doi: 10.7525/j.issn.1673-5102.2026.03.012

• Original Paper • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Testing and Clustering Analysis of Floral Scent Compounds of Calycanthus

Xiangbo CHEN1(), Fangzhou LIU1,2, Yibing FENG2   

  1. 1.Shanghai Academy of Landscape Architecture Science and Planning,Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Landscaping on Challenging Urban Sites,Shanghai 200232
    2.Department of Urban Construction and Ecological Technology,Shanghai Institute of Technology,Shanghai 201418
  • Received:2025-12-05 Online:2026-05-20 Published:2026-06-01
  • Contact: Xiangbo CHEN E-mail:cxb7210@163.com

Abstract:

To investigate the chemical composition and diversity of floral scent volatiles in plants of the genus Calycanthus,the floral scent compounds of nine Calycanthus species or varieties were analyzed using a combination of headspace solid-phase microextraction(HS-SPME) and static headspace(HS) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS). Principal component analysis(PCA) and cluster analysis were employed to compare and evaluate the diversity of volatile compounds in the flowers of Calycanthus plants. The results showed that the numbers of volatile compounds detected in the flowers of C. chinensisC. floridus and C. floridus ‘Athens’ were 16, 21,and 23(by SPME) and 5, 21,and 23(HS), respectively. The volatile profile of C. chinensis was dominated by alkanes(HS-SPME) or terpenes(HS), while that of C. floridus consisted mainly of esters, especially ethyl acetate. The volatile compositions of C. floridus ‘Athens’ were more diverse, including ethyl acetate, ethyl isobutyrate, ethyl butyrate and ethyl isobutyrate. Among the hybrid varieties, except for ‘Meixia’ which was rich in terpenes, the others contained relatively high levels of esters. The order of ester content from high to low was ‘Hongyun’, ‘Venus’, ‘Hongxiao’, ‘Fencan’, ‘Xiaodie’ and ‘Meixia’.PCA revealed that the volatile compounds of C. chinensis were the most distinct from those of the other Calycanthus plants, whereas the hybrid varieties showed greater similarity to the female parents(C. floridus and C. floridus ‘Athens’). Cluster analysis of the volatile compounds obtained by the two methods indicated that the static headspace approach corresponded more closely to the genetic relationship among the tested Calycanthus plants.Specifically,hybrids from the same cross combination(‘Fencan’, ‘Xiaodie’, ‘Meixia’ and ‘Hongyun’ ) clustered together with their parents C. chinensis and C. floridus, while they were separated from C. floridus ‘Athens’ and its hybrid offspring(‘Hongxiao’ and ‘Venus’). Based on the floral volatile composition results, C. floridus and C. floridus ‘Athens’ were rich in ester volatile compounds, suggesting their potential for development of fragrance chemicals and applications in aromatic gardens.

Key words: Calycanthus, floral scent compounds, HS-SPME, HS, GC-MS, hybrid variety

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