Abstract The chemical composition of the fruit oil of Gmelina arborea Roxb., Verbenaceae, was examined by capillary gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). One hundred components were identified which accounted for 92.7% of the oil including 24 trace compounds. The ubiquitous terpenes occurred in lesser amount. The fruit oil was characterized by the abundance of (Z)-3-hexenol (17.9%), 1-octen-3-ol (8.4%) and hexanol (6.1%) among the aliphatic alcohols; heptacosane (5.6%), pentacosane (3.8%) and 1-pentacosene (3.2%) among the hydrocarbons; and nonanal (8.7%) and (E)-2-decenal (3.0%) as the main aldehyde constituents.