abstract distillation of the fresh flowering tops of heteropappus altaicus willd. (novopokr.) collected from four different altitudes of altai region of siberia yielded mobile, dark green to yellowish oils, depending on the altitude and location of collection. gc and gc/ms analyses of the oils revealed 42 components, of which 65-91% were monoterpenoids and 7-31% were sesquiterpenoid. the oil obtained from 330 m had -pinene (18.6%), myrcene (18.6%), -phellandrene (17.2%), (e)--ocimene (12.9%) and germacrene d (11.9%), while samples from 600 m consisted of myrcene (26.4%), -pinene (23.2%), -phellandrene (18.0%), (e)--ocimene (9.9%), germacrene d (4.3%) and sabinene (4.2%). the oil from 120 m had -pinene (22.0%), -phellandrene (21.6%), myrcene (19.5%), trans--ocimene (11.3%), germacrene d (7.2%) and limonene (4.5%) as major components. at 1550 m the major components were germacrene d (22.0%), myrcene (18.0%), -phellandrene (14.0%), -pinene (11.3%) and (e)--ocimene (9.2%). key word index: heteropappus altaicus asteraceaeessential oil composition-pinene-phellandrenemyrcene(e)--ocimenegermacrene d