abstract the volatile components of the fruits from nine collections of clusia nemorosa g. mey. from two municipalities (tamandar'e: t1-3 and cabo de santo agostinho: n1-3; g1-3) of the coastal region of pernambuco, northeast of brazil, in two kind of soil, rocky rich in iron (n1-3) and sandy clays (t1-3 and g1-3), were analyzed by gc and gc/ms. the isolated oils were obtained in similar yields, 0.1-0.3 % (w/w) and 0.1-0.2% (w/w) in the samples from taman- dar'e (t1-3) and fortress nazar'e (n1-3) and in the samples from gaib'u (g1-3), respectively. the oil samples can be characterized by the abundance of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, while the percentage of oxygenated sesquiterpenes was higher in the samples collected in tamandar'e (t1-3: 20.4-22.0%) and gaib'u (g1-3: 17.6-20.4%). monoterpenes hydrocarbons were totally absent in all samples. all samples showed -caryophyllene (37.3-48.6%) as the principal component. based on the information of other major components, two subtypes of c. nemorosa growing wild in pernambuco, brazil, can be established