Abstract: In order to find the aroma cbaracteristics of Citrus madica L.,the chemical compositions of the cssential oil of C.madica have been examined. The cssentia] oil was prepared from fresh leaves by steam disti1lation. The plants was collccted at Ying-giang district of Yunnan province in August, 1983. Tho properties of the essential oil were determined as following:the yield of oil 0.22-0.3%, d21/21 0.8826, n23/D 1.4800, [α]21.5/D + 36.9'.This essential oil was analysed by GC-MS on the Finnigan 4510 instrument. As rcsult (see Table 1 and Fig. 1 ) 22 compounds were identified. The major components are limonene (56.63%), neral (8.1%), geranial (13.52%), P-cy- mene (3.92%), geranyl acetate (2.34%), 6 -methyl- 5 -hepten- 2 -one and myrcene (3.26%) etc. This essential oil having a characteristic lemon-citrus fruitful aroma shows to be suitable for compounding perfumes of food flavour and cosmetic.

Key words: chemical, essential, madica, constituens