Kai Gao’s research while affiliated with Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences and other places

Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) is a well-known and traditional flower in China, occupying a significant position in Chinese traditional culture. The floral scent of the herbaceous peony however remains relatively understudied. The objective of this study was to investigate the floral composition of herbaceous peony by collecting and identifying floral volatiles from 100 cultivars, including P. lactiflora 'Hangbaishao', P. lactiflora 'Hongrongqiu', P. lactiflora 'Biandihong', P. lactiflora 'Zijin Daipao', P. lactiflora 'Zixia Yingxue', and P. lactiflora 'Fenchi Dicui'. The volatile compounds were collected using the dynamic headspace technique and identified through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results demonstrated qualitative and quantitative variations in the floral fragrances emitted by the 100 cultivars, with a total of 16 volatiles belonging to six categories (six alkanes, three alcohols and esters, two terpenes, as well as one each of ether and phenol) being identified. However, it is notable that not all volatile categories were emitted by every cultivar. Moreover, while some compounds were present in all 100 herbaceous peony cultivars, others were exclusive to specific cultivars. The screening revealed that ten of the 16 identified flower volatile compounds exhibited unique floral components. It is noteworthy that benzene,1,4-dimethoxy-, was identified as the most prominent compound in several cultivars, including P. lactiflora 'Taohua Huancai', P. lactiflora 'Xishifen', P. lactiflora 'Dabanhong', P. lactiflora 'Fumantang', and P. lactiflora 'Zhushapan'. Furthermore, the clustering classification results demonstrated that benzene,1,4-dimethoxy-, exhibited the highest variable importance in projection (VIP) value of 3.153, as determined by partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA).