abstract several essential oils obtained from artemisia absinthium l. from four localities in the spanish pyrenees were analyzed by gc/ms. two chemotypes were detected; a cis-epoxyocimene type (with more than 50% of this compound) which was predominant in all the populations, and a cis-epoxyocimene + chrysanthenyl acetate type (with 25-65% of cis-epoxyocimene and 15-50% of chrysanthenyl acetate). the distribution of these chemotypes had no relation with the altitude of the samples. none of the plants tested contained thujone, a fact which could be very interesting for the food industry.