the rhizome oils of boesenbergia pandurata (roxb.) schlecht, water-distilled from samples obtained from two different sites in malaysia, medan in indonesia and bangkok in thailand, were analysed by gas chromatography on two columns of different polarity, retention indices and gc-ms. the oils were found to possess some compositional differences and considerable variation in the levels of some individual constituents, suggesting the existence of chemical varieties, which could be distinguished according to their ocimene contents. (e)--ocimene and (z)--ocimene, which were present in appreciable amounts in three samples, were conspicuously absent in one sample. the major constituents of the oils were camphor (16.1-32.1%), geraniol (16.2-26.0%), (e)--ocimene (19.0-23.7%), 1,8-cineole (7.5-13.9%), camphene (5.4-6.0%) and methyl cinnamate (2.2-5.8%). copyright (c) 2001 john wiley & sons, ltd.