Abstract: The chemical components of different genera and species of Taxaceae have been
analyzed in order to provide data for discussion of the systematic position of this family. A
characteristic component tsugalacton (or tsugaresinol) from trunk of Pseudotaxus chienii
(Cheng) Cheng has been reported in our previous paper. The present paper deals with our
preliminary study on essential oil composition of leaves in the same species. Thirt-eight
components have been isolated and 33 of them have been identified. Three of them, limonene,
α-pinene, and δ-3-carene, are the main ones, with their contents being more than 1/3 in the
total essential oil. This characteristic of the essential oil composition from leaves of Pseu-
dotaxus chienii resembles to that of Torreya grandis cv. ‘Merrillii’.

Key words: Pseudotaxus chienii, Essential oil composition, chemotaxonomy