abstract the chemical composition of the oils obtained from leaves of three eugenia species-e. moraviana, e. klappenbachiana and e. repanda-collected from different areas of southern brazil, were analyzed by gc and gc/ms. fifty-four compounds were identified in the different samples analyzed, representing 71.2-92.1% of the total oil contents. e. klappenbachiana was found to be constituted, mainly, by oxygenated sesquiterpenes (45.7%). the major components are derived from the aromadendrane skeleton, such as viridiflorene (6.9%) and globulol (8.7%). -caryophyllene was the main component of the oil of e. moraviana and e. repanda (14.5% and 16.3%, respectively). these species were also rich in -elemene (11.8% and 7.3%) and bicyclogermacrene (5.1% and 9.4%). key word index: eugenia moraviana eugenia klappenbachiana eugenia repanda myrtaceaeessential oil composition-caryophyllene-elemene-humulene