Floral scent

Because the scent of a flower may be due to hundreds of different compounds, it is difficult for perfume manufacturers to duplicate floral scents. Establishing the identities and relative amounts of the components of a fragrance was actually impossible until the development of chromatography. Related techniques are used in forensic laboratories to match samples of fluids, by food manufacturers to test product quality, and to search for evidence of life on other planets. All these techniques depend on subtle differences in intermolecular forces to separate compounds. 

Dudareva N, Cseke L, Blanc VM, Pichersky E (1996) Evolution of floral scent in Clarkia Novel patterns of S-linalool synthase gene expression in the C. breweri flower. Plant Cell 8 1137-1148... 

Fig. 5.1. A sample of floral scent compounds. (1) Substituted methyl esters of benzoic acid. The ester smells unpleasantly sweet when R = H (methyl benzoate), of wintergreen when R = OH (methyl salicylate), and of concord grape when R = NH2 (methyl anthranylate). Odorants with unusual origins and biological functions include the homoterpene 4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (2) and the wet-earth compound geosmin (3). Some ubiquitous fragrance compounds are ben-zaldehyde (4), benzyl alcohol (5), indole (6), (S)-linalool (7), ( )-/ -ocimene (8), and of-farnesene (9).

Azuma, H., Toyota, M., Asakawa, Y. et al. (1997). Chemical divergence in floral scents of Magnolia and allied genera (Magnoliaceae). Plant Species Biology 12 69-83. 

Dudareva, N. and Pichersky, E. (2000). Biochemical and molecular aspects of floral scents. Plant Physiology 122 627-634. 

Galen, C. (1983). The effects of nectar thieving ants on seedset in floral scent morphs of Polemonium viscosum. Oikos 41 245-249. 

Regulation of seed set in Polemonium viscosum floral scents, pollination and resources. Ecology 6 792-797. 

Galen, C. and Kevan, R G. (1983). Bumblebee foraging and floral scent dimorphism Bombus kirbyellus Curtis (Hymenoptera Apidae) and Polemonium viscosum Nutt. (Polemoniaceae). Canadian Journal of Zoology 61 1207-1213. 

New or uncommon volatile compounds in floral scents. Proceedings of the 13th International Congress of Flavours, Fragrances and Essential Oils, pp. 135-168. 

Knudsen, J. T. and Tollsten, L. (1993). Trends in floral scent chemistry in pollination syndromes floral scent composition in moth-pollinated taxa. Botanical Journal of the Linnaean Society 113 263-284. 

Miyake, T., Yamaoka, R. and Yahara, T. (1998). Floral scents of hawkmoth-pollinated flowers in Japan. Journal of Plant Research 111 199-205. 

Omura, H Honda, K., Nakagawa, A., and Hayashi, N. (1999b). The role of floral scent of the cherry tree, Prunus yedoensis, in the foraging behavior of Luehdorfla japonica (Lepidoptera Papilionidae). Applied Entomology and Zoology 34 309-313. 

Raguso, R. A. (2001). Floral scent, olfaction and scent-driven foraging behavior. In Cognitive Ecology of Pollination Animal Behavior and Floral Evolution, eds. L. Chittka and J. D. Thomson, pp. 83-105, Cambridge Cambridge University Press. 

Raguso, R. A. and Roy, B. A. (1998). Floral scent production by Puccinia rust fungi that mimic flowers. Molecular Ecology 7 1127-1136. 

Schiestl, F. P, Ayasse, M., Paulus, H. F Erdmann, D. and Francke, W. (1997). Variation of floral scent emission and post-pollination changes in individual flowers of Ophrys sphegodes. Journal of Chemical Ecology 23 2881-2895. 

Tollsten, L. (1993). A multivariate approach to post-pollination changes in the floral scent of Platanthera bifolia (Orchidaceae). Nordic Journal of Botany 13 495-499. 

Tollsten, L Knudsen, J. T. and Bergstrom, L. G. (1994). Floral scent in generalistic Angelica (Apiaceae) an adaptive character Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 22 161-169. 

Horseweed is a native annual plant that can grow to a height of over 2 m. When mature, several flowering stems appear at the apex, which branch frequently and create a multitude of tiny composite flowers. In each flower, there are numerous yellow disk florets in the center, which are surrounded by tiny white ray florets. There is no noticeable floral scent. The blooming period can occur any time from midsummer to fall, lasting about 3 wk. 

Olfactory landscapes and deceptive pollination signal, noise and convergent evolution in floral scent... 

Chemodiversity of floral scent distinguishing signal from noise... 

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