); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (Y.Y. ); [PERSON]_ADDRESS] (L.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.D.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.D.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (J.W. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.C. )1  
[PERSON]  
1 Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, Beijing Key Laboratory of Ornamental Plants Germplasm Innovation & Molecular Breeding; National Engineering Research Center for Floriculture; Beijing Laboratory of Urban and Rural Ecological Environment; Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants of Ministry of Education; School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (F.B. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.Y. ); [PERSON]_ADDRESS] (L.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.D.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.D.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (J.W. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.C. )1  
[PERSON]  
1 Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, Beijing Key Laboratory of Ornamental Plants Germplasm Innovation & Molecular Breeding; National Engineering Research Center for Floriculture; Beijing Laboratory of Urban and Rural Ecological Environment; Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants of Ministry of Education; School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (F.B. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (Y.Y. ); [PERSON]_ADDRESS] (L.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.D.);from these flowers are basically divided into four classes by the biosynthesis origin: terpenoids, phenylpropanoids/benzenoids, fatty acid derivatives, and compounds containing nitrogen/sulfur [11]. _P. mume_ (mei) from Rosaceae, is a famous ornamental and fruit tree blooming in early spring within January and February, and it is mainly cultivated in Yangtze valley that locates in the subtropical monsoon climate zone [12]. It emits recognizable and pleasant scents, making it distinguishable from other species in _Prunus_, such as _P. sibrica, P. armeniaca_, and _P. persica_[13]. It has been reported that the aromatic benzenoid, benzyl acetate, is the main component in its floral volatiles [14]. However, very little is known about the diversity of the floral scents in its cultivars with different coloring corollas, which includes two groups: one in white and light yellow without anthocyanin, the other one in light pink, pink and fuchsia with anthocyanin [15]. As reported, there is a close connection between metabolic biosynthesis of floral volatiles and flower coloration, because aromatic benzenoids and anthocyanin are derived from their common precursor, aromatic amino acid phenylalanine, through phenylpropanoids biosynthesis pathway [16]. There are some researches focusing on the relation between floral scent and flower colour, which usually mentioned the regulation of transcription factors (TF). A TF from MYB family, production of anthocyanin pigment 1 (_pap1_) in _Arabidopsis thaliana_ can activate phenylpropanoids pathway to enhance the emission of phenylpropanoid/benzenoid compounds and accumulate anthocyanin pigments [17; 18]. In Petunia hybrids, flower pigment and scent emission are also co-regulated by _PH4_[16]. Whether the floral fragrance of _P. mume_ intraspecific cultivars with different flower colours varies or not awaits further investigation. _P. mume_ has been recognized to be an essential material to investigate the floral metabolic characteristics. The present study aims to explore the diversity of floral scents in _P. mume_ intraspecific cultivars with different corolla colours. It reports the floral scents through characterizing the emitted VOCs with HS-SPME-GC-MS. First, the specific floral volatile compounds from the investigated cultivars were identified. We analyzed the emission composition referring to their percentages and absolute amounts. Then, PCA was performed to categorize the intraspecific cultivars and clarify the major contributing component.