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Essential oils derived from many plants are known to possess insecticidal, antifungal, acaricidal, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities.

Rosmarinus officinalis, Thymus mastichina and Thymus albicans are wild species widely found in the arid lands of Algarve, Portugal.

The goal of this work was to test the antimicrobial activity of the essential oils of Rosmarinus officinalis, Thymus mastichina and Thymus albicans against one strain of Salmonella sp., Staphylococcus aureus and three strains of Listeria monocytogenes.

Essential oils were obtained from the aerial parts of these plants, collected in December and May, using a Likens-Nickerson apparatus, for 3 hours.

The antimicrobial activity of Rosmarinus officinalis, Thymus mastichina and Thymus albicans was tested by agar diffusion technique against one strain of Salmonella sp., Staphylococcus aureus and three strains of Listeria monocytogenes, one of them a clinical isolate and the other two food isolates.

The results indicated that the tested bacteria were sensitive to the essential oils obtained from those plant species. The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils against the tested bacteria was similar.