A new amino acid present in gifblaar, Dichapetalum cymosum, was isolated and identified as N-methyl-L-serine. In very young leaves 0.80 per cent of the dry weight consisted of N-methyl-L-serine compared to 0.25 per cent in old leaves. The corresponding values for the flowers, rhizome tips, pericarp and seed were 1.3, 1.5, 0.8 and 0.1 per cent respectively.