abstract the chemical composition of the essential oil of satureja montana l. subsp. montana (lamiaceae), obtained from the air-dried plant material by hydrodistillation, was analyzed using gc and gc/ms. the major components were thymol (33.4%) and p-cymene (28.8%). the essential oil was tested against five bacterial species by the agar well diffusion technique. all of the bacteria are potential skin contaminants. the oil and its 5% solution in ethanol showed antimicrobial activity against all of the tested bacteria. the most susceptible organisms were corynebacterium sp., while the most resistant organism was pseudomonas aeruginosa.