Diurnal patterns of floral volatile emissions in three species of Narcissus

Plants generate a wide array of signals such as olfactory cues to attract and manipulate the response of pollinators. The present study addresses the temporal patterns of scent emission as an additional dimension to the scent composition. The expectation is that divergent floral function is reflected in divergent qualitative and temporal emission patterns.

We used GC-ion mobility spectrometry with an integrated pre-concentration for automated acquisition of the temporal trends in floral volatile emissions for N. viridiflorus, N. papyraceus, and N. cantabricus subsp. foliosus.

We found a considerable increase in scent emissions and changes in scent composition for N. viridiflorus at night. This increase was particularly pronounced for aromatic substances such as benzyl acetate and p-cresol. We found no diurnal patterns in N. papyraceus, despite a similar qualitative composition of floral volatiles. Narcissus cantabricus subsp. foliosus showed no diurnal patterns either and differed considerably in floral scent composition.

Scent composition, circadian emission patterns, and floral morphology indicate divergent, but partially overlapping pollinator communities. However, the limited pollinator data from the field only permits a tentative correlation between emission patterns and flower visitors. Narcissus papyraceus and N. cantabricus show no clear diurnal patterns and thus no adjustment to the activity patterns of their diurnal pollinators. In N. viridiflorus, timing of scent emission indicates an adaptation to nocturnal flower visitors, contradicting Macroglossum as the only reported pollinator. We propose that the legitimate pollinators of N. viridiflorus are nocturnal and are still unidentified.