abstract the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the leaves and twigs of 'straggly baeckea' [ochrosperma lineare (myrtaceae)] growing wild in eastern australia was investigated by gc and gc/ms. one southern chemical form, which yielded 0.3% oil on a fresh weight basis, was found to be rich in methyl chavicol (81.6%), with -pinene (1.1%), -pinene (8.3%) and bicyclogermacrene (3.6%) as the only other significant constituents. the more typical northern form yielded 0.1% of a more complex oil found to be rich in bicyclogermacrene (27.4%), -pinene (21.5%), germacrene d (13.2%) and -caryophyllene (11.6%) key word index: ochrosperma lineare baeckea linearis myrtaceaeessential oil compositionmethyl chavicolbicyclogermacrene-pinenegermacrene d-caryophyllenechemical variation