The compositions of essential oils isolated from the aerial parts of Chrysanthemum boreale and C. indicum by steam distillation were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Ninty-four components were identified in the essential oil from C. boreale, with camphor (15.40% as GC peak area), cir-chrysanthenol (14.11%), ${alpha}-thujone$ (13.27%), 1,8-cineole (4.16%), ${alpha}-pinene$ (3.80%), ${eta}-caryophyllene$ (3.58%), gremacrene D (2.69%), camphene (2.40%), umbellulone (2.24%) and ${eta}-pinene$ (2.00%) as the major constituents. In the oil from C. indicum, the major constituents among 80 components identified were germacrene D (16.50%), camphor (10.04%), ${alpha}-thujone$ (6.40%), ${alpha}-pinene$ (4.50%), ${alpha}-cadinol$ (3.97%), camphene (3.82%), ${eta}-pinene$ (3.67%), zingiberene (3.64%), cis-chrysanthenol (3.45%), piperitone (3.09%), 1,8-cineole (2.61%) and chrysanthenone (2.42%). The oil from C. boreale, although similar to that from C. indicum in many respects, contained proportionately higher levels of camphor, cis-chrysanthenol, ${alpha}-thujone$, 1,8-cineole and umbellulone, while that from C. indicum contained higher levels of germacrene D, ${eta}-caryophyllene$, ${alpha}-cadinol$, zingiberene, cis-chrysanthenol and piperitone.