The volatile constituents obtained from the essential oil using hydrodistillation of the aerial parts of Petiveria alliacea L. growing in Martinique (F.W.I.: French West Indies), were examined by a combination of gas chromatography/flame ionization detection (GC/FID) and GCâmass spectrometry (GCâMS) techniques. Fifty-one components representing 89.1â98.1% of the essential oil total GC/FID chromatogram were identified. The most abundant compounds were toluenethiol (2.3â23.0%), phytol (6.4â40.0%) dibenzyldisulfide (13.2â35.3%) and benzaldehyde (0.8â31.3%). In total, forty new components were characterized in P. alliacea oils. Higher content in sulfur compounds were quantified in P. alliacea oils collected during the rainy season than those collected during the dry season. Antimicrobial activity of the essential oil from plants collected in PrÃªcheur area was also investigated. Antibacterial and antifungal activities were observed against Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella arizonae and Listeria innocua at 0.5% and against resistant strains of E. coli (J96) and S. aureus (1799) at 1.0%.