abstract the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation of the fresh leaves of eugenia speciosa camb. (myrtaceae) growing in rio de janeiro, brazil was investigated by gc and gc/ms. compounds representing 95.7% the oil were identified. twenty-seven components were identified according to their chromatographic retention indices and mass spectra. the major constituents were limonene (33.7%) and -terpineol (18.9%).