abstract the essential oil of the aerial parts of the wedelia chinensis merrill was analyzed by gc and gc/ms. nineteen compounds have been identified accounting for 94% of the oil. it was made up of mainly monoterpenes hydrocarbons (50.6%), sesquiterpenes hydrocarbons (22.5%), oxygenated sesquiterpenes (20.3%) with only small amounts of oxygenated monoterpenes (0.7%). the main constituents were found to be -pinene (21.7%), spathulenol (20.3%) and limonene (14.3%). key word index: wedelia chinensis compositaeessential oil composition-pinenespathulenollimonene