Abstract The hydrodistilled essential oils from herbal parts of three varieties of Chrysothamnus nauseousus were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. All oils were found to consist of mainly monoterpenes. A total of 51, 46 and 59 compounds were identified from C. nauseousus var. albicaulis, C. nauseousus var. consimilis and C. nauseousus var. glabratus, respectively, representing 97.1%, 96.0% and 96.2% of each of the oils listed. The major constituents of C. nauseousus var. albicaulis were β-pinene (16.8%), limonene (18.6%) and β-phellandrene (26.0%); the main constituents of C. nauseousus var. consimilis were limonene (33.2%), β-phellandrene (18.0%) and (Z)-β-ocimene (14.6%). The major constituents of C. nauseousus var. glabratus were β-pinene (30.3%), myrcene (10.5%), limonene (16.5%) and β-phellandrene (10.9%).