The volatile compounds in the fruit of Liquidambar formosana Hance were investigated by headspace solid phase microextraction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry（HS-SPME/GC-MS）.The conditions for HS-SPME were optimized by an orthogonal experimental design.Principal component analysis(PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis were performed to distinguish the samples from different regions.The optimized extraction conditions were as follows：1.0 g of sample extraction using PDMS-DVB fiber for 40 min at 80 ℃，and a desorption time of 1 min.48 volatile compounds were identified in samples from eight geometrical origins.The compound types from different regions were roughly the same while the compound amounts varied with the origins.The two chemometrics methods suggested that the volatile components of L.formosana fruits originated from Hunan，Jiangsu，Sichuan and Liaoning were similar but differed greatly from that from Guizhou，Guangxi，Anhui and Hebei.The PCA results showed that caryophyllene oxide，δ-cadinene and nerolidol could be used as the representative volatile compounds for distinguishment of samples from different regions.The results demonstrated that the HS-SPME/GC-MS method was efficient in identifying volatile components in traditional Chinese medicine.In addition，by coupled with suitable pattern recognition techniques，the method was also powerful in distinguishing the geographical origins of the herbs，which was helpful for quality control of the medicines.