Objective  To studying the seed oil content, fatty acid composition and content of Chinese herbaceous peony(Paeonia lactiflora), aiming at providing a theoretical basis for oil plant development.

Method  36 cultivars and 1 wild population of P. lactiflora were selected as samples, the seed oil were extracted and the oil content was determined by Soxhlet Extraction Technology, and the components of the seed oil was analyzed with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry(GC-MS).

Result  The average oil content of peony seeds was 20.20%. The seed oil mainly contained eight fatty acids, viz. myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic and arachidic, among which the main fatty acids were linolenic acid (up to 34.14%), followed by oleic acid, linoleic acid and palmitic acid. These three kinds of unsaturated fatty acids account for 93.39% of total fatty acids. The variation of fatty acid content was relatively stable, and the variation coefficients were 13.90%(linoleic acid), 13.51%(oleic acid), 10.71%(linolenic acid), 0.18%(palmitic acid), 0.09(stearic acid), 0.002%(arachidic acid), 0.002%(palmitoleic acid) and 0.00%(myristic acid).

Conclusion  Chinese herbaceous peony seeds not only have high oil content, but is also rich in linolenic, linoleic and oleic acids. The content of these fatty acids is relatively stable with only small variations. The research provides evidence for the development of Chinese herbaceous peony as oil plant with high linolenic acid content.