abstract the chemical composition of minthostachys verticillata oil from argentina was studied. forty-five compounds, accounting for 94.2% of the oil, were identified by gc and gc/ms analyses. the oil was characterized by a high amount of mono-terpenes (91.6%), of which 73.6% were represented by oxygenated compounds. pulegone (37.8%) and menthone (29.2%) were the main constituents. a preliminar antibacterial screening was carried out, resulting in an inhibitory activity of the oil on four gram (+) and gram (-) bacterial strains