In order to understand the content of total shikonins in commerical Macrotomiae Radix (Macrotomia euchroma (R(subscript OYLE)) P(subscript AULS)), Fifty samples were extracted with chloroform and spectrophotometrically determined for their shikonin contents by their absorption at the wavelength of 525nm. The results showed that the contents of total shikonins ranged from 0.28 to 5.87%, with an average of 1.13%.