abstract phellolophium madagascariensis baker is an aromatic plant, used in traditional medicine to fight both cough and hysteria. the isolation of oil by hydrodistillation of the aerial parts produced a yield of 0.95% (v/m). gc and gc/ms analyses enabled the identification of 33 components, representing 99.3% of the oil. limonene and sabinene were the major constituents, respectively, at 58.5% and 30.25% in the oil. pharmacological tests on isolated organs-trachea-of guinea pigs have been undertaken and results would justify the collected ethnobotanical data. key word index: phellolophium madagascariensis umbellifereaeessential oil compositionlimonenesabinenepharmacological tests