the leaf essential oils of three species of lantana from monteverde, costa rica (l. camara, l. velutina, and l. hirta) were obtained by hydrodistillation and the chemical compositions determined by gc-ms analysis. the principal components of l. velutina were limonene (21.4%), (e)-caryophyllene (23.4%) and bicyclogermacrene (8.2%). the leaf oil composition of l. hirta was relatively simple, containing mostly 1-octen-3-ol (64.6%), germacrene d (24.5%), and (e)-caryophyllene (10.9%). two different samples of l. camara, however, yielded vastly different leaf oil compositions; one was dominated by sesquiterpenes, (e)-caryophyllene (30.3%), gamma-muurolene (27.2%), bicyclogermacrene (24.4%) and beta-elemene (14.2%); the second sample, on the other hand, was composed largely of fatty acid-derivatives, (z)-3-hexenol and 1-octen-3-ol. the very different compositions for l. camara are consistent with the wide diversity of chemical compositions observed in previous reports for this species.