leaf samples from sixteen natural populations of pistacia atlantica desf. subsp. atlantica were harvested in northwest algeria aiming to investigate the intraspecific chemical variability of the essential oil. the essential oils were isolated by hydrodistillation, in yields ranging from 0.10% to 0.42% (v/d.w.) and compositions were further investigated by gc and gc/ms. terpinen-4-ol (34.7-16.1%), -pinene (64.8-15.4%), germacrene d (24.5--19.0%) and e-caryophyllene (23.1%) were found the major components. the two last compounds were never mentioned as main constituents of this subspecies. multivariate cluster analysis of compositional data evidenced significant differences concerning the compositions of essential oils from leaves of male and female trees and different types of essential oil considering the predominant constituents: (1) terpinen-4-ol; (2) -pinene/camphene; (3) -pinene/germacrene d. this chemical diversity should be considered as promising source of specific components and could open up more opportunities for the valorization of this species.