abstract the chemical composition of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation of staminate inflorescences of kewda ( pandanus odoratissimus l.) has been compared with the kewda oil from the local market. both the oils were subjected to high-resolution gc and gc-ms, which resulted in the identification and quantification of 85 and 59 components, amounting to 98.7% and 98.6% of the total oils, respectively. the major components of the hydrodistilled kewda oil were 2-phenyl ethyl methyl ether (37.7%), terpinen-4-ol (18.6%), -terpineol (8.3%) and 2-phenyl ethyl alcohol (7.5%), whereas the major constituents of kewda oil from the local market were 2-phenyl ethyl alcohol (33.2%), 2-phenyl ethyl methyl ether (16.1%), benzyl benzoate (11.0%), viridine (8.8%) and germacrene b (8.3%). copyright (c) 2004 john wiley & sons, ltd.