kelussia odoratissima is known as an endemic and valuable spice plant. the effect of six different drying treatments (sun, shade, oven 45^0c, oven 65^0c, microwave and freeze drying) was studied on the color, essential oil content and chemical composition of k. odoratissima leaves. the essential oils were isolated from fresh and dried samples by a hydrodistillation method and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (gc-ms). the highest essential oil yield was obtained by shade drying (1.50%) followed by microwave (1.46%) and oven 65^0c (1.43%)-drying methods. the major compounds of k. odoratissima oils were (z)-ligustilide, (e)-ligustilide and cis-3-butylidene phthalide. drying treatments significantly increased (z)-ligustilide compared with the fresh one. in this study, (z)-ligustilide ranged from 48.67% in sun-dried samples to 68.3% in 45^0c oven-dried ones. for color analysis, shade drying possessed the highest a*/b* value, followed by microwave and oven 45^0c. results showed that shade drying at ambient temperature significantly increased the essential oil yield and (z)-ligustilide with acceptable color quality. finally, shade and oven drying (<50^0c) methods were introduced to produce appreciable essential oil yield, composition and color quality.