Abstract: The essential oils from stems of P.orientalis growing in 3 areas of China were extracted by hydrodistillation and supercritical fluid extraction,and analyzed by GC and GCMS.In the essential oil of stems of P.orientalis,the main components were thujopsene and cedrol,which accounted for about 60% of the total oils.There were no considerable differences in the essential oil composition among 3 habitats of P.orientalis.The yield of the essential oil extracted by SFE was 4 times higher than that obtained by hydrodistillation.However,the chemical composition of the essential oil extracted by SFE was almost the same as that of the hydrodistilled essential oil.

Key words: Platycladus orientalis, essential oil, GCMS, retention index