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Artemisia herba-alba (Asteraceae) is a greenish-silver perennial dwarf shrub growing in arid and semi-arid climates. It is characteristic of the steppes and deserts of the Middle East (Egypt, desert of Israel and Sinai), North Africa (Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria), Spain, extending into Northwestern Himalayas [1]. In Tunisia, A. herba-alba is found from the mountains around Jebel Oust (Fahs) until the South of the country [2]. This plant is widely used in the traditional medicine to treat diabetes, bronchitis, diarrhea, hypertension and neuralgias [3][4][5]. The essential oil of this

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The composition of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the aerial parts of several populations of Artemisia campestris L. (Asteraceae), collected from four areas of south-eastern of Tunisia (Bengardane, Benikhdache, Jerba and Tataouine), was analysed by GC-MS. Thirteen to fifteen components were identified in each sample, representing more than 95% of the total oil. All samples were dominated by the presence ofˇ-pinene (24.2-27.9%), p-cymene (17.4-22.3%) and˛-pinene (4.1-11.0%), representing more than 45% of the total oil. The distribution of other components in the different extracts was qualitatively and quantitatively irregular. The variability of the composition can be attributed to the climatic and geographical conditions among areas.