abstract essential oils, hydrodistilled from the leaves and flowers of cunila galioides benth. collected in rio grande do sul and santa catarina, brazil, were analyzed by gc and gc/ms. the main compounds in the oil of flowering plants of sample a were geranial (44.3%), neral (33.6%) and geranyl acetate (5.2%). in sample b, (e)--ocimene (46.6%), geranial (10.3%), linalool (9.3%) and neral (7.5%), were the main constituents. key word index: cunila galioides lamiaceaeessential oil compositiongeranialneral(e)--ocimene