abstract the essential oil of nepeta racemosa (lamiaceae) was prepared by hydrodistillation and was analysed by a combination of gc and gc-ms. twenty-four components were identified, constituting approximately 99.3% of the oil. the major constituents of essential oil were 4a ,7 ,7a -nepetalactone (33.6%), 4a ,7 ,7 a -nepetalactone (25.6%), 4a ,7 ,7a -nepetalactone (24.4%) and 1,8-cineole (9%). copyright (c) 2003 john wiley & sons, ltd.