Abstract: For centuries, freesia has been one of the most important crops in the floriculture industry. Here, aqua-space samples collected from entire flowers of diploid Freesia refracta, three tetraploid freesia cultivars, and interspecific hybrids of three tetraploid freesia cultivars were analyzed using gas chromatograph coupled with mass selective detector. In all, 75 different compounds were identified. The compounds were mainly terpenes, hydrocarbons, alcohols, fatty acid esters and aromatic class compounds. Among these, linalool was detected from all the sweet-scented flowers except for scentless white tetraploid F. hybrida. Stable inheritance of linalool between F. hybrida and their F1 progeny was observed. Based on the present analyses, the relationship between the aroma of freesia and linalool was discussed.

Key words: Aqua-space, Freesia hybrid, Freesia refracta, Interspecific hybrid, Volatile compounds