abstract the essential oil of hyptis floribunda briq. ex. micheli collected from oran, argentina (yungas area) was analyzed by gc and gc/ms. in the oil, 17 compounds were identified. the oil was found to be rich in sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (74.6%), the most abundant being bicyclogennacrene (37.8%), -cadinene (17.9%) and -cadinene (10.7%). elemol (11.4%) was the major oxygenated sesquiterpene. key word index: hyptis floribunda lamiaceaeessential oil compositionbicyclogermacrene-cadinene-cadineneelemol