abstract essential oil from steam distilled whole plants of nepeta govaniana benth. gathered in the flowering stage from the garhwal region of india was examined. the three main components were isolated and identified as pregeijerene (38.4%), (+)-isoiridomyrmecin (16.5%) and 4a,7,7a-nepetalacetone (13.9%). the structure of (+)-isoiridomyrmecin was established by x-ray crystallography. another 13 compounds (24.5%) were identified by gc/ms.