Abstract: OBJECTIVE To establish a method for the qualitative and quantitative determination of Carduus crispus. METHODS Flavonoids and chlorogenic acid were identified by chemical method and TCL respectively, and the chlorogenic acid was determined by HPLC. The analysis of chlorogenic acid was carried on a Hypersil ODS2 column(4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm) using methanol-0.5% acetic acid(15∶85) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL·min^-1. The column temperature was set at 25 ℃, and detecting wavelength was 325 nm. RESULTS The obvious characteristics were observed in qualitative identification test. There was a good linear relationship over the range of 0.088-1.76 μg for chlorogenic acid. The average recovery was 100.3% with RSD of 1.52%. CONCLUSION The developed method is simple, rapid, reproducible and accurate. It can be used for the quality control of Carduus crispus.