The essential oil for the present investigation was obtained from the air-dried leave +flowers of Salvia cryptantha as described in the experimental. Composition ofwater-distilled essential oils of S. cryptantha growing wild in Turkey were analysed by GC and GC-MS. At least 16 compounds were isolated and identified, corresponding to 98.5 % of the oil. The major compounds were camphor (25.6 %), 1,8-cineole (20.3 %), β-pinene (12.8 %), n-hexane (10.6 %), heptane (8.9 %), borneol (5.1 %) and α-pinene (4.1 %). The oils consisted of monoterpenic hydrocarbons and oxygenated monoterpenes. © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.