[Objective]To analyse the components of the essential oil of Potentilla bifurca L.var.major Ledeb..[Methods]The essential oil of Potentilla bifurca L.var.major Ledeb.was prepared by steam distillation and Soxhlet organic extraction,headspace(HS)-solid phase microextraction(SPME)-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS)was used to analyse the components of the essential oils.[Results]A total 113 volatile substance compounds were identified and separated in the essential oils prepared by two methods,mainly including alcohols,esters,aldehydes,olefins,ketones,alkanes and organic acids compounds.Among them,the relative content of ester compounds was the highest at 50.10%;next were alcohols and alkanes,accounting for 39.24%and 8.16%,respectively.[Conclusion]The main volatile substances in the essential oil of Potentilla bifurca L.var.major Ledeb.are esters,alcohols and alkanes.