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The essential oil composition of Artemisia parviflora Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don has been done for the first time from Losar-a Cold Desert of North Indian Higher Altitude Himalayas (4079 m) in July, 2007. Essential oil was isolated by hydro distillation from the aerial parts of the plants collected from the wild sources. The extraction yield for the essential oil of A. parviflora was 0.27 %. The oil was analyzed by GC-MS, the components of the essential oil were identified by comparing their retention indices and mass spectra fragmentation patterns with those stored on the MS-computer library and also from the published literatures. The essential oil analysis led to the identification of 27 constituents representing 80.93 % of the composition of oil. The major constituents of the oil were as following: beta-eudesmol (15.58%), spathulenol (8.50%), beta-selinene (6.0%), citronellol (5.68%), gamma-cadinene (4.95%), phytol (4.95%), guaiol (4.68%), germacrene-D (3.81%), 10-epi-gamma-eudesmol (3.51%) and alpha-cadinol (4.51%). The present study describes the phytochemical profile and antimicrobial activity of essential oil of A. parviflora. Furthermore, antimicrobial activity of oil was evaluated using agar well diffusion method. The antimicrobial test results showed that the oil had a great potential antimicrobial activity against all 7 bacterial strains. Among all gram positive bacterial growths, the maximum zone of inhibition was recorded against Bacillus subtilis (MTCC-2451), followed by gram negative bacterial strain Salmonella typhimurium (MTCC-1251). The minimum zone of inhibition was recorded against the Escherichia coli (MTCC-443) strain. Among all tested microorganisms, the minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) was recorded in gram negative strain Salmonella typhimurium (MTCC-1251).