Abstract The hydrodistilled essential oil from fresh leaves of Syzygium malaccense Merr. et Perry. grown in Nigeria has been studied by GC and GC/MS for the first time. Identification of the substances was made by comparison of mass spectra and retention indices with literature records. The oil was largely composed of monoterpenes (61.1%) characterized mainly by (+)-α-pinene (7.3%), (â)-β-pinene (8.0%), p-cymene (13.5%), and α-terpineol (7.5%). The sesquiterpenes constituted 30.8% of the oil with (â)-β-caryophyllene (9.0%) as the major component.