Abstract: Essential and absolute oil was extracted from Houttuynia cordata Thunb with two dif-ferent ways of petroleum ether and steam distillation. 43 constituents were elucidated by qualita-tive and quantitative analyses of GC / MS. It is revealed that the content of houttuyninum in ab-solute oil is much higher than that in essential oil. The chemical constituens in both essential and absolute oil are similar except fatty acid esters.

Key words: Houttuynia cordata