Abstract: The essential oils from five species of curcuma plants in China, Curcuma longa,C. wenyujin, C. aeruginosa, C, kwangsinensis and C. sp., were analysed by GLC, GLC-MS and TLC.On OV-17 column, more than 30 chromatographic peaks were observed, of which 24 components were identified. Four of these, limonene, α-pinene, linalool and caryophyllene, have not been reported previously.It was found that these different curcuma plants have many similar constituents, but they also contain different components of high content such as cineole in C sp, curzerenone in C. aeruginosa, turmerone and ar-turmerone in C longa etc.According to differences in the main components of the 5 essential oils, a comparative list is given, which makes it easy to differentiate these curcuma species from, their essential oils, this is very useful for systematizing and distingushing these five Chinese drugs.