The chemical composition of leaves and flowers essential oils of Lantana camara from India were analysed by GC and GC-MS, which resulted in the identification of 71 and 64 constituents, representing 99.0% and 97.0% of the oils, respectively. The major constituents in the leaf oil were germacrene-D (20.5%), gamma-elemene (10.3%), beta-caryophyllene (9.4%), beta-elemene (7.3%), alpha-copaene (5.0%) and alpha-cadinene (3.3%), while the major constituents in the flower oil were beta-elemene (14.5%), germacrene-D (10.6%), alpha-copaene (10.7%), alpha-cadinene (7.2%), beta-caryophyllene (7.0%) and gamma-elemene. (6.8%). A comparison with the chemical composition of L camara oils of different origin showed that our oils were significantly different from others with respect to their major constituents. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.