Abstract The essential oil of Tanacetum polycephalum Schultz Bip. subsp. farsicum Podl. growing wild in Iran was obtained by hydrodistallation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Thirty-eight components representing 84.5% of the total oil were identified. The main components of the oil were trans-chrysanthenyl acetate (24.7%), 1,8-cineole (9.2%), trans- chrysanthenol (8.9%), cis-chrysanthenyl acetate (7.1%) and cis-chrysanthenol (6.7%)