the essential oil of aerial parts of baccharis latifolia (asteraceae) growing wild in ecuador was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (gc/ms) and gc/flame ionization detector (gc/fid). twenty-nine compounds, representing 90.91% of the oil, were identified. the major components were limonene (33.72%), -phellandrene (10.32%), sabinene (10.28%), -pinene (6.99%) and -pinene (5.44%). the antifungal and antibacterial activities were determined by the broth microdilution method. the essential oil from b. latifolia exhibited activity only against trichophyton rubrum (atcc 28188) and trichophyton mentagrophytes (atcc 28185).