Abstract A hydrodistilled oil from the leaves of Centratherum punctatum Cass., collected from Nigeria, was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Among the 49 constituents found, 42 were identifed (ca. 94% of the oil composition). The major compounds were the sesquiterpenes: Î²-caryophyllene (16.6%), germacrene D (6.4%), globulol (5.7%), Î±-copaene (5.3%) and Î²-sesquisabinene (5.3%).