abstract the essential oil, which was produced by hydrodistillation of annona squamosa (annonaceae) leaves was investigated by gc and gc/ms. eighteen compounds have been identified accounting for 86% of the oil. the oil of a. squamosa was made up of monoterpene hydrocarbons (2.5%), sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (76.0%) and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (7.1%). -caryophyllene (23.0%), germacrene d (21.3%), bicyclogermacrene (8.5%) and -elemene (7.8%) were the major constituents of the oil.