Abstract:Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the essential oils steam distilled from the aer ial parts of Saussurea arenaria, S.iodostegia and S.japonica by means of capillary gas chromatography and GC / MS spectrometry. The relative contents of the components in the essential oils were calculated by means of area of normalization. In Saussurea arenaria, S.iodostegia and S.japonica,the 37, 69 and 29 components were identified, respectively.