Abstract: Objective To study the optimal extraction conditions of shikimic acid from Illicium macranthum A. C. Smith. Methods With the yield of shikimic acid as index，the central composite design（CCD）experiment and the response surface methodology（RSM）were conducted to build a model between the factors and response value to optimize reflux extraction process. Results The optimum conditions were methanol concentration 25%，liquid-to-materia 15∶1（mL/g），soaking for 12 h，temperature 70 ℃ ，extracting 1 time，each time 1. 5 h. Under these conditions，the extraction capacity of shikimic acid was 92. 546 6 mg/g，bias between observed value and predicted values was less than 1%. Conclusion Optimum extraction process for shikimic acid from Illicium Macranthum with central composite design and response surface method is simple，reliable and highly predictive.

Key words: Illicium macranthum A. C. Smith, shikimic acid, central composite design（CCD）, response surface method（RSM）, extraction process