abstract the volatile constituents from roots of valeriana officinalis l. were investigated using gc and gc/ms methods. valerianae radix samples were obtained from retail pharmacies of different european countries. the roots of 15 v. offcinalis samples yielded 0.19-1.16% essential oil on a dry weight basis. the basic oil components among the identified 86 compounds were bornyl acetate (2.9-33.7%), -fenchene (0-28.3%), valerianol (0.2-18.2%), valerenal (tr-15.6%), isovaleric acid (0-13.1%), camphene (0-11.1%) and valeranone (0.5-10.9%). bornyl acetate/valerenal chemotype was characteristic for 9 of the 15 samples of valerian roots from different european countries. some samples did not contain -fenchene and camphene (germany, czech), isovaleric acid (france, moldova, russia 2) and valerianic acid (estonia, ukraine 1, scotland, moldova, russia 1). valerian root oil from estonia was rich in essential oil, bornyl acetate (33.7%), valerianol (16.8%) and valeranone (9.5%).