Objective: To analyze the liposoluble compounds of Huaiyang Medicago polymorpha. Method: The liposoluble compounds of M. polymorpha were extracted by petroleum ether and qualitatively analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrography (GC-MS) to identify its chemical components; the relative content of every compound was determined by normalization method. A sensitive and reliable quantitative analysis of α-linolenic acid and palmitic acid in M. polymorpha was carried out by using methyl heptadecanoate as internal standard. Result: The qualitative analysis showed that a total of 26 chromatographic peaks were detected and 17 components were identified. Among them

α-linolenic acid and palmitic acid accounted for 45%of the relative content. The quantitative analysis showed that the contents of α-linolenic acid and palmitic acid were 0.62%and 0.19%respectively. Conclusion: GC-MS method can be used to effectively analyze the liposoluble contents of M. polymorpha. In the liposoluble constituents

the content of beneficial fatty acids α-linolenic acid was almost 3 times of hexadecanoic acid. The nutritional value of Chinese ancient medicinal-edible plants was elucidated by modern research results of fatty acids

which provided a more powerful basis for the development and utilization of M. polymorpha.