the chemical composition of the essential oils obtained from the hydrodistillation of the rhizomes of the common ginger (zingiber officinale) and three ginger-lilies (hedychium coccineum, h. flavescens and h. coronarium) grown in mauritius was investigated by gc and gc/ms. z. officinale oil was characterized by the presence of geranial (16.3%), neral (10.3%), zingiberene (9.5%), -sesquiphellandrene (6.3%) and ar-curcumene (5.1%). the oils of the ginger lilies were characterized as follows: h. coccineum: (e)-nerolidol (44.4%), trans-sesquisabinene hydrate (24.2%); h. flavescens: linalool (35.0%), 1,8-cineole [eucalyptol] (15.3%), -pinene (14.7%), -terpineol (14.5%) and -pinene (5.3%); h. coronarium: -muurolol (16.8%), -terpineol (15.9%), 1,8-cineole (11.2%), an unknown sesquiterpene alcohol (7.0%), -fenchyl acetate (5.6%), citronellal (5.5%) and (e)-methyl cinnamate (5.1%).