abstract the composition of the essential oil of the leaf of cymbopogon citratus (dc) stapf, growing on the campus of lagos state university, was determined by the use of gc and gc-ms. the oil gave 27 peaks, amounting to 98% of the total oil. twenty-three (97.3%) constituents were identified. the main constituents were geranial (33.7%), neral (26.5%) and myrcene (25.3%). small amounts of neomenthol (3.3%), linalyl acetate (2.3%), z --ocimene (1.0%) and e --ocimene were also detected. copyright (c) 2001 john wiley & sons, ltd.