Abstract The essential oils isolated by steam distillation from the leaves and roots of Senecio rufinervis DC., were analyzed by GC, GC/MS and 1H- and 13C-NMR. A total of (92.5%) and (89.1%) of the constituents were identified in leaf and root oil, respectively. Both the oils were dominated by the sesquiterpenoids with germacrene D (33.7%), δ-cadinene (5.5%), γ-cadinene (5.5%), germacrene D-4-ol (5.4%), α-cadinol (4.9%) and β-longipinene (4.0%) as major constituents in leaf oil while germacrene D (32.9%), germacrene A (19.5%), δ-elemene (7.6%), α-cubebene (4.9%) and β-eudesmol (3.0%) were dominant in the root oil.