abstract the essential oil from the aerial parts of astrodaucus persicus (boiss.) drude. from iran was isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gc/ms. of the 41 components which were detected, 30 amounting to 96.8% were identified. the oil consisted mainly of non-terpenoid aliphatic compounds and a small percentage each of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. the major components found in the oil were decanal (34.8%), dodecanal (15.5%) and dodecanol (14.3%).