The composition and relative contents of volatile components in unflowering and flowering buds of saplings and ancient trees of Yulania denudata ‘Hailuo’ were detected by using SDE-GC-MS. 53 volatile components are detected from flower buds of saplings and ancient trees in total， in which， there are 14 common components， their total relative contents in unflowering and flowering buds of saplings are 81.95% and 75.51%， respectively， while those in unflowering and flowering buds of ancient trees are 87.20% and 83.72%， respectively. There are differences in specific volatile components of unflowering and flowering buds of saplings and ancient trees. It is suggested that the major volatile components in flower buds of saplings of Y. denudata ‘Hailuo’ are similar to those of ancient trees， and flower buds of saplings can replace flower buds of ancient trees.