Abstract: AIM　To establish an HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography)-ELSD (evaporative light scattering detector) method for the quantification of chromophore-lacking imperialine (I) and imperialine-3β-D-glucoside (II) in bulbs of Fritillaria pallidiflora. METHODS　By optimizing the chromatographic conditions of HPLC and the parameters of ELSD to test the methodology. Column: Kromasil C-18 (5 μm, 200 mm×4.6 mm), mobile phase: acetonitrile-water-triethylamine (71∶29∶0.03), flow rate: 1.0 mL*min^-1, drift tube temperature: 88℃, gas flow-rate: 2.38 L·min^-1. RESULTS　The calibration curves were linear in the range of 60.72-161.92 μg·mL^-1 for I and 48.72-194.88 μg·mL^-1 for II. The precisions (RSD) of intra-day and inter-day were less than 1% for I and II. The recoveries of the amounts of 24.28, 30.35 and 36.42 μg for I were 97.1%, 96.6% and 96.8%, and 24.20, 30.24 and 36.29 μg for II were 95.8%, 96.9% and 96.0%. The minimal detectable concentrations of I and II were 2.43 and 1.53 μg·mL^-1 respectively. CONCLUSION　The established method is simple, rapid, accurate and sensitive, and can be utilized to determine the contents of imperialine and imperialine-3β-D-glucoside in crude drug Yibeimu (derived from the bulbs of Fritillaria pallidiflora).