## 3 Results and Discussion
### Botanical Origin and Volatile Composition of Corsican \"Spring\" Honeys  
The 17 samples of \"clementine\" honeys (group I: 1-17) could be distinguished from other \"spring\" honeys (group II) by the presence of three illac aldehydes (**C25**, **C27** and **C28**) and two _p_-menth-1-en-9-al isomers (**C31** and **C32**) (Table 3, Table S2-supplementary materials). These honey samples were dominated by phenolic compounds (12.6%-59.3%), followed by furan compounds (12.2%-38.6%) and linear compounds (11.3%-36.6%). The main components were phenylacetaldehyde **C14** (0.8%-39.1%), methyl-benzene **C2** (1.5%-15.6%), (2\(R\),2_'S_,5_'S_)-illac aldehyde **C27** (4.9%-16.5%), (2\(S\),2_'S_,5_'S_)-illac aldehyde **C25** (1.3%-8.9%), benzaldehyde **C9** (2.4%-17.9%) and (2\(R\),2_'R_,5_'S_)-illac aldehyde **C28** (2.2%-8.1%). Low amounts of methyl anthranilate **C38** (0.2%-3.5%) were found in the volatile fraction of the \"clementine\" honeys analyzed. This component is a known chemical marker of _Citrus_ (species not specified) unifloral honey [13]. Additionally, various linalool derivatives, such as linalool oxides, illac aldehydes and/or _p_-menth-1-en-9-al isomers, have also been reported as characteristic compounds of citrus unifloral honeys from Spain and Greece [15; 16; 30; 31; 32; 33]. These compounds were also identified in the volatile components of Corsican \"clementine\" honeys. Conversely, some other linalool derivatives, such as illac alcohol isomers (previously reported in the Spanish and Greek citrus honeys), were not detected in our honey samples. [PERSON] _et al_. [15] showed that methyl anthranilate and illac aldehydes could be found in honeys of mixed botanical origin with the presence of citrus nectar. These volatile compounds were also detected in the honey samples 2-4 in which were found the RF\({}_{\text{max}}\) of _Trifolium_ sp. **T9** and _Echium_ sp. **T13** taxa. Chemical investigation showed that these honey samples displayed the similar volatile composition of \"clementine\" honey. As these two taxa could provide great quantity of nectar and pollen [34], it appeared that they played only a polleniferous role in these honey samples. The volatile composition of _C. sinensis_\(\times\)_reticulata_ flowers has not been reported previously. The HS-SPME fraction of clementine flowers is characterized by 29 compounds, which accounted for 75.5%-87.0% of the volatile composition (Table 4). Linalool (9.6%-22.6%), sabinene (13.4%-19.6%), dihydrolinalool (8.5%-14.8%) and myrcene (5.6%-6.5%) were identified as the main compounds. Linalool and dihydrolinalo were also found in low concentrations in the volatile fraction from \"spring clementine\" honey samples. Methyl anthranilate was detected in the volatile fraction of Corsican clementine flowers (0.1%-0.3%) and corresponding honeys. The decrease in linalool amount and the occurrence of other linalool derivates (hotrienol, linalool oxides, illac aldehyde isomers and _p_-menth-1-en-9-al isomers) in honey samples could be explained by the enzymatic degradation of linalool by some pathways [15]: (1) linalool can be transformed to 8-hydroxylinalool isomers by enzymatic hydroxylation at the C8 position, and then hotrienol; (2) 8-hydroxylinalool can be transformed to illac aldehyde via (_E_)-8-oxolinalool and illac alcohols, or _p_-menth-1-en-9-al via 8-hydroxygeraniol and (3) linalool can also be transformed via 6,7-hydroxylinalool into furanoid linalool oxide isomers under acidic conditions or by heating. These results were in accordance with those previously reported on the volatile fraction of citrus flowers and corresponding honeys [16]. It demonstrated that the flowers from _Citrus_ species (orange, tangerine and sour orange) had high amounts of linalool (51.6%-80.6%) and that the honeys consisted of more than 80% of linalool derivatives (illac aldehydes and illac alcohols).