The chemical constituents, anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities of the leaf essential oil hydrodisitlled from the Gardenia jasminoides J. Ellis (Rubiaceae) were reported. The chemical constituents of the essential were analyzed using gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The hot plate and carrageenan-induced models were used to determine the anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities. The main compounds of the oil were pentadecanal 17 (49.2%), geranial 4 (12.3%), ar-turmerone 14 (8.2%) and 10-epi-γ-eudesmol 10 (6.2%). The essential oil of G. jasminoides at 100 and 400 mg.kg-1 doses significantly (p < 0.001) increased the latency period for the reaction duration in the anti-nociceptive study. The carrageenan-induced edema model reveals the suppression of inflammatory mediators (p < 0.001) within 1st, 2nd and 4th h for 100 mg.kg-1 dose, 1st and 4th h (200 mg.kg-1) and 1st-3rd h (400 mg.kg-1). The results indicate the potential of G. jasminoides essential oil as a source of pain relieving agent. Manuscript profile