hedychium spicatum sm. is a perennial, rhizomatous, essential oil bearing, plant belongs to the family zingiberaceae. in the present study, essential oil composition in rhizome part was analysed among 16 populations located in diverse habitat conditions in west himalaya. a total of 39 compounds were identified accounting 89.59-98.51% of the volatile constituents. among these, 1,8-cineole was recorded as a single major component (41.63%), followed by -eudesmol (10.42%), -elemol (8.08%), cadin-4-en-10-ol (7.90%), -eudesmol (5.80%) and linalool (4.09%). some essential oil components such as, 1,8-cineole, carissone, trans-pinocarveol, -terpineol, -pinene, -terpineol, terpinen-4-ol and -thujene exhibited significant (p < 0.05) negative relationship with altitude. different habitat conditions also largely influenced the oil composition and therefore can be promoted as specific compound rich essential oil. the result of this study can be utilised for selection of specific compound rich group for its use in flavour, fragrance, cosmetic or medicines.