study on the essential oil of endemic L. adoensis Hochst. ex. Walp. was undertaken. Thern'search work was conducted on samples from four areas where the ethnic groups claim arnlfference in the flavour of the wild and cultivated L. adoensis. The chemical investigationrnIdicated that the essential oils obtained from the wild and cultivated L. adoensis are markedlyrnifferent in their physical characteristics and chemical composition. The eSsential oils froM~esernNO types were differentiated from each other by the Presence of l-linaloo las a major componentrn1 the cultivated and its absence in the wild; and by the presence of d-limonene, peri1laldehyde,rn.iperitenone, and citral a in the wild and their absence in the cultivated L. adoensis. The oilsrnlistilled from cultivated L. adoensis show a laevo rotation while those from the wild are dextrornotatory. Morphological differences of the leaves were also observed. There are no publishedrneports on the morphological or chemical differences between the wild and cultivated L. adoensis rnerior to this work.ourteen components comprising 88.1 - 94.8% of the oil from the cultivated, and 16 componentsrn;onstituting 68.4 - 86.5 % of the oil from the wild were identified. These include ipsdienone, 1-rninalool, germacrene D, d-limonene, d-perillaldehyde, piperitenone, citral a and b, ocimene, Ci;rnopaene, Ci- and Jl-caryophyllene, Ci-farnesene, Ci- and Jl-cadinene. To the best of our knowledge,rnthis is the first time that ipsdienone is reported from a natural source. All the other compoundsrnare known. However, piperitenone, perillaldehyde, germacrene D, citral a and b, have not beenrnreported before in L. adoensis.rnThe elucidations of the structures are based on spectroscopic techniques and by comparison ofrnthese data with those reported in the literature.