Chemical Composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils from two species of Thimus growing wild in southern Italy

The volatile constituents of the aerial parts of two samples of Thymuslongicaulis C. Presl, collected in Campania and in Sicily, and two samples of Thymuspulegioides L. from the same regions, were extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed.Considering the four oils together, seventy-eight different compounds were identified: 57for Thymus longicaulis from Sicily (91.1% of the total oil), 40 for Thymus longicaulis fromCampania (91.5% of the oil), 39 for Thymus pulegioides from Sicily (92.5% of the oil) and29 for Thymus pulegioides from Campania (90.1% of the oil). The composition of the oilsis different, although the most abundant components are identical in T. pulegioides. Theessential oils showed antibacterial activity against eight selected microorganisms.