Abstract The essential oil from the leaves of Libanothamus humbertii Cuatr., Libanothamus lucidus (Aristeg) Cuatr., Libanothamus nerifolia (B. ex H) Ernst, and Libanothamus occultus (Blake) Cuatr, collected in the Andes near Merida, were obtained by hydrodistillation. The oil yield varied between 0.05% and 0.13% and monoterpene hydrocarbons constituted 83.6–90% of the oils. Limonene (19.4%) is the most abundant component in L . humbertii , α‐thujene (30.2%) in L. lucidus , sabinene (25.6%) in L. nerifolia and α‐pinene (31.3%) in L. occultus. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.