The essential oil from air dried buds and roots of Calligonum polygonoides Linn., has been extracted from dry steam distillation and analysed for chemical composition by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. In total, 27 and 10 compounds were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively, accounting for 68.42% and 82.12% total contents of the essential oils of buds and roots, respectively. It contains a complex mixture of terpenoids, hydrocarbons, phenolic compounds, acid derivatives and ketones. The main component of essential oil was ethyl homovanillate (11.79%) in buds and drimenol (29.42%) in roots.