Hydrodistilled essential oil from flower heads of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench cultivated in Slovakia was analyzed by GC/MS method. Seventy-two components were identified and determined. As a result of studying the content and composition of the essential oil obtained from flower heads of E. purpurea it was established that the content of the essential oil was 1.85% (vAv) of the weight of dry material. The main components in the studied samples were palmitic acid, a-pinene, germacrene-D, ß-pinene, and a-phelandrene. The main components of the analyzed oil were palmitic acid (8.3%), nerolidol (6.6%), a-pinene (5.1%), germacrene-D (4.8%), a-phelandrene (4.3%), and ß-pinene (4.1%).