TheAnnonaceaeis a tropical to subtropical plant family distributed from Africa, Asia, Central and South America to Australia. It consists of numerous fruit trees (custard apple—Annona atemoya, soursop—A. muricata), plants whose dried fruit are used as condiments (Ethiopian pepper—Xylopia aethiopica, Calabash nutmeg—Monodora myristicaand one well-known fragrant flower (ylang ylang—Cananga odorata).The volatile composition of these and numerous other species found in 17 different genera are reviewed.