Abstract The hydrodistilled essential oil of Sphaeranthus indicus was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Thirty-eight compounds making up 84.0% of the oil were identified. The major compounds were: 2,5-dimethoxy-p-cymene (18.2%), Î±-agarofuran (11.8%), 10-epi-Î³-eudesmol (7.9%) and selin-11-en-4Î±-ol (12.7%).