The leaf oil of Ferula arrigonii Bocchieri was investigated using combination of GC, GC/MS and 13C‐NMR spectroscopy. After fractionation by column chromatography, 56 components were identified, representing 97.0% of the total amount of the oil. The main constituents were β‐phellandrene (16.6%), germacra‐1(10),5‐dien‐11‐ol (15.4%) and linalool (12.5%). 13C‐NMR appeared to be a powerful tool for sesquiterpene identification. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.