abstract the essential oil, isolated by hydrodistillation from flowering tops of artemisia coerulescens l. subsp. cretacea (fiori) br.-catt. et gubell., was investigated by gc/ms. the analyses were carried out on oils obtained from plants collected in romagna and in tuscany (central italy) in three different stages of growing cycle. the oil yield was higher from plants collected in romagna than in those collected in tuscany. the main components of the romagna and tuscan oils were -thujone (59.6-71.0% and 32.9-39.7%), -thujone (17.8-18.7% and 10.0-10.8%) and camphor (4.2-6.2% and 35.6-45.3%), respectively.