Abstract: The Chinese drug “Rou Cong-rong” (Herba Cistanchis) is one of the commonly used drugs in Chinese traditional medicine. It is used to reinforce the vital function of kidney, especially that of the sexual organs and induce laxation, for the treatment of impotence, premature ejaculation in men, infertility, morbid leukorrhea, profuse metrorrhagia in women, and chronic constipation in the aged. This paper deals with the qualitative and quantitative analysis of phenylethanoid glycosides of four species and one variety of Genus Cistanche and 23 lots of commercial crude drugs of Herba Cistanchis by RP-HPLC. The results were as follows: the chemical constituents of Cistanche deserticola Ma,C.salsa (C.A.Mey) G.Beck, C.salsavar. albiflora P.F.Tu et Z.C.Lou and C.tubulosa were similar while those of C.sinensis were different from the others; the contents of echinacoside and acteoside of C.salsa, which were 2.13%and 1.51%, were the highest of the genus Cistanche. An ODS column (Alltima C₁₈, 5μm, 250×4.6 mm) was employed. Linear gradient elution of acetonitrile─1.5% acetic acid was used as mobile phase, and concentration of acetontrile was from 8% to 20% (0～60 min) in the qualitative analysis, and from 11.5 to 20% (0～35 min) in the quantitative analysis. The flow rate was 1.2 ml·min^-1. The detection wavelength was set at 335 nm.