The essential oils from three organs (i.e. flowers, leaves and stems) of wild Lindera chunii Merr. in Dinghu Mountain (China) were obtained by microwave-assisted hydrodistillation. The essential oils were analysed by gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. The yields of essential oil varied from 0.06% to 0.59% and showed a remarkable variation among the plant organs. A total of 43 compounds accounting for 95.4-96.3% of the total essential oil were identified, and the major compounds were germacrene B (0.7-43.2%), viridiflorene (trace to 14.6%), globulol (6.3-11.6%), α-cadinol (1.7-8.6%) and τ-cadinol (0.5-7.3%). This study shows that the chemical compositions of the essential oils from the different organs of L. chunii are very variable.