An investigation into the chemical constituents of a crude MeOH extract from a specimen of Actephila excelsa (family Euphorbiaceae), led to the isolation of two new epimeric aromatic terpenoids, actephilol A 1 and epiactephilol A 2. The gross structures and relative stereochemistry of 1 and 2 were determined through extensive 2D NMR analysis. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.