Abstract: A high performance liquid chromatographic method for the quanti-tative analysis of eight phenols compounds, gastrodin ( 1 ) , p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol (2) , p-hydroxybenzyl aldehyde (3) , 4,4'-dihydroxy-diphenyl methane (5), 4,4'-dihydroxy-dibenzyl ether (6) , p-hydroxybenzyl ethyl ether (7), 4-ethoxymethyl phenyl-4' -hydroxy benzyl ether (8), parishin (9) was reported.Determination was curried out under the following conditions; ethyl ether extract; column, Zorbax ODS 250x4.6 mm (Dupont), mobile phase, methanol-water(6.5 : 3.5), flow rate, 0.2 ml/min, wave length 270 nm; detector, SPD-2AS. n-butyl alcohol extract: column, Partisil ODS 250x9.4 mm (Whatman) , mobile phase, methanol-water (9 : 1), flow rate, 0.25 ml/min, detector, SPD-2AS wave length 225 nm. External standard method was used. With this method, the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the phenol constituents of sixteen samples of Gastrodia elata and its related plants G. angusta and Galeola lindleyana were examied. It is shown that HPLC is a useful tool not only for the quality determination of Gastrodia elata as a herb drug, but also for chemical ecology and chemotaxonomy of genus Gastrodia and its related plants, and for screening of new natural resources of gastrodin.

Key words: Gastrodia elata