tThe chemical composition of the lipophilic extracts of the stems and grains of the shrub Retama sphae-rocarpa was investigated by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry for the first time. Fatty acids is themajor family of compounds in both morphological parts, representing between 37.1 and 85.1% of the totalcompounds detected, followed by sterols in stems and monoglycerides in grains. Considerable amountsof the alkaloids retamine (9.6 g kg−1of dry material) and cytisine (0.6 g kg−1of dry material) were alsofound in stems and grains, respectively. Before alkaline hydrolysis octadec-9-enoic (0.7–2.4 g kg−1of drymaterial), octadeca-9,12-dienoic (1.5–2.9 g kg−1of dry material) and hexadecanoic (1.1–2.0 g kg−1of drymaterial) acids are the most abundant lipophilic components in both morphological parts. After alkalinehydrolysis the contents of octade-9-enoic, octadeca-9,12-dienoic and octadeca-9,12,15-trienoic acidsdetected increased considerably ranging from 1.9 to 22.4, 3.6 to 40.1 and 0 to 8.6 g kg−1of dry mate-rial, respectively. Smaller amounts of long-chain aliphatic alcohols, �-tocopherol and �-amyrin werealso found. These data indicates that R. sphaerocarpa stems and grains are a potential source of valuablephytochemicals, with recognized nutritional and phytopharmaceutical applications.