Interest of using naturally occurring antioxidants had been increased in our life to replace undesirable harmful synthetic antioxidants. In the present study, the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of methanol and aqueous extracts of wild African (Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata (Wallich ex G. Don) Ciferri) and cultivated Mediterranean (Olea europaea subsp. europaea L.) olive leaf samples growing in Taif, KSA were estimated. All methanol and aqueous extracts showed high DPPH free radical scavenging activity with SC50 < 40 μg/ml. The extracts of wild olive have higher antioxidant activity than the cultivated olive. The methanol extract in the same subspecies showed higher antioxidant activity and total phenolic content than the aqueous extract. Positive correlation appeared between the antioxidant properties and phenolic content. In conclusion, these two subspecies may have great relevance in the prevention and therapies for diseases in which free radicals or oxidants are implicated after more phytochemical and biological studies. Phytochemical analysis confirmed the present taxonomy of African and Mediterranean olives as subspecies of Ol
