abstract the essential oils obtained from the fresh leaves and flowers of borago officinalis collected in the region of amdoun (northwestern tunisia) were examined by gc and gc/ms. twenty-three volatile compounds were identified. the oil yields expressed on a dry weight basis were 0.14% and 0.24% for the leaves and flowers, respectively. the main compound determined in flower and leaf oil was (e,e)-2,4-decadienal with 43.4% and 26.9% in the leaf and flower oils, respectively. the oils from the two organs showed the predominance of the aldehyde class which constituted 61.2% and 61.9% in the leaf and flower oils, respectively. other classes present in important percentages in the two organs were alcohols (22.4%) in the leaf oil and phenols (13.2%) and monoterpene hydrocarbons (12.2%) in the flower oil. key word index: borago officinalis boraginaceaeessential oil composition(e,e)-2,4-decadienal(z)-3-hexenol