echinophora cinerea (apiaceae) grows wild in the zagros mountains range, located in iran. the herb has been used as a food additive in traditional preparations such as pickles. this study determined the chemical composition and biological activity of essential oils in the aerial parts of e. cinerea collected from three natural habitats at two phenological stages. the essential oils constituents were determined by gc-fid and gc/ms. the antimicrobial activity of the essential oils was evaluated against bacillus cereus, listeria monocytogenes, proteus vulgaris, and salmonella typhimurium and candida albicans. the highest oil yield obtained from e. cinerea was 2.05%w/w dry matter harvested from plants at the full flowering stage. major essential oil constituents were -phellandrene (42.40 to 54.87%), -pinene (12.28 to 25.54%), and -phellandrene (10.29 to 11.08%).the essential oils of e. cinerea harvested at the full flowering stage of growth had the highest antimicrobial activity. the antioxidant activity of e. cinerea indicated the oil acted as an effective dpph scavenger. the ic50 values ranged from 1.97 mg/ml to 2.25 mg/ml for the essential oils as compared with the 0.412 mg/ml for bht. the antimicrobial properties of the essential oils obtained from e. cinerea may be significant from a pharmaceutical standpoint.