abstract chemical composition of the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of the leaves (before and at full flowering stage) and flowers of heracleum persicum l. were investigated by a combination of gc and gc/ms. twenty-one components were characterized for the leaf oil before flowering with (e)-anethole (60.2%) and (e)--ocimene (8.4%) as the main constituents. at the full flowering stage, 19 compounds were identified in the leaf oil with (e)-anethole (47.5%), 2-propanone, l-(4-methoxy phenyl)-2-propanone (18.1%) and anisaldehyde (8.9%) as the major components. among 21 compounds identified in the flower oil of h. persicum, the major constituents were (e)-anethole (38.6%), -terpinene (17.8%) and myrcene (13.5%).