The volatile rhizomes oil of Curcuma caesia was analysed by GC-MS, which resulted in the identification of 30 components, representing 97.48% of the oil, with camphor (28.3%), ar-turmerone (12.3%), (Z)-β-ocimene (8.2%), ar-curcumene (6.8%), 1,8-cineole (5.3%), β-elemene (4.8%), borneol (4.4%), bornyl acetate (3.3%) and γ-curcumene (2.82%) as the major constituents. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.