essential oils were obtained by separate hydrodistillation of three different plants cultivated in nigeria and analysed comprehensively for their constituents by means of gas chromatography (gc) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (gc-ms). the leaf essential oil of casuarina equisetifolia l. (casuarinaceae) comprised mainly of pentadecanal (32.0%) and 1,8-cineole (13.1%), with significant amounts of apiole (7.2%), -phellandrene (7.0%) and -terpinene (6.9%), while the fruit oil was dominated by caryophyllene-oxide (11.7%), trans-linalool oxide (11.5%), 1,8-cineole (9.7%), -terpineol (8.8%) and -pinene (8.5%). on the other hand, 1,8-cineole (39.4%) and -terpinyl acetate (10.7%) occurred in large quantities in the essential oils of the leaf of eucalyptus toreliana l. (myrtaceae). the oil also features high levels of sabinene (5.9%), caryophyllene-oxide (4.7%) and -pinene (4.2%). the main compounds identified in the leaf oil of ficus elastica roxb. ex hornem. (moraceae) were 6,10,14-trimethyl-2-pentadecanone (25.9%), geranyl acetone (9.9%), heneicosene (8.4%) and 1,8-cineole (8.2%).