abstract bunium persicum fruit oils from wild type (wt), first (cy1) and second year (cy2) cultivars (fourth and fifth year plants) were analyzed by gc and gc/ms. the essential oil content of the wt (9.1% v/w) was higher than the oil content of the cy1 (6.2% v/w) and cy2 (5.1% v/w). no significant differences were found with respect to the oil constituents. the main constituents were -terpinene (wt: 44.2%, cy1: 40.8%, and cy2: 36.8%), associated with cuminaldehyde (wt: 16.9, cy1: 14.1, and cy2: 11.8%), and -terpinen-7-al (wt: 10.5, cy1: 10.6, and cy2: 18.7%). in total 35 components could be identified covering 95.4% (wt), 94.9% (cy1) and 96.3% (cy2) of the oil content. we also studied the phenology of the plants during the period 1999-2004.