| Summary: | The genus <i>Thymus</i> L., belonging to the Lamiaceae family, contains about 220 species with a distribution that mainly extends in Europe, northwest Africa, Ethiopia, Asia, and southern Greenland. Due to their excellent biological properties, fresh and/or dried leaves and aerial parts of several <i>Thymus</i> ssp. have been utilized in the traditional medicine of many countries. To evaluate not only the chemical aspects but also the biological properties, the essential oils (EOs), obtained from the pre-flowering and flowering aerial parts of <i>Thymus richardii</i> subsp. <i>nitidus</i> (Guss.) Jalas, endemic to Marettimo Island (Sicily, Italy), were investigated. The chemical composition of the EOs, obtained by classical hydrodistillation and GC-MS and GC-FID analyses, showed the occurrence of similar amounts of monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes, and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons. The main constituents of the pre-flowering oil were <i>β-</i>bisabolene (28.54%), <i>p</i>-cymene (24.45%), and thymol methyl ether (15.90%). The EO obtained from the flowering aerial parts showed as principal metabolites <i>β-</i>bisabolene (17.91%), thymol (16.26%), and limonene (15.59%). The EO of the flowering aerial parts, and its main pure constituents, <i>β-</i>bisabolene, thymol, limonene, <i>p</i>-cymene, and thymol methyl ether were investigated for their antimicrobial activity against oral pathogens and for their antibiofilm and antioxidant properties.
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