Abstract Drimys granadensis L. f ., a native plant from Colombia, has been included in the Vademecum de Plantas Medicinales de Colombia by the Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt , due to its widespread use in the folk medicine for the treatment of gastrointestinal ailments. The chemical composition of the essential oil of Drimys granadensis obtained by hydrodistillation of the leaves was analyzed by GC and GC/MS analyses. A total of 85 components were identified, with the major compounds germacrene D ( 1 , 14.7%), sclarene (9.5%), α ‐cadinol (7.3%), longiborneol acetate ( 2 , 6.3%), drimenol (4.2%), ( Z )‐ β ‐ocimene ( 3 , 4.2%), α ‐pinene ( 4 , 3.2%), and β ‐elemene ( 5 , 2.7%). The essential oil was also tested against eight bacteria using the KirbyBauer disk‐diffusion method. Most of the Gram ‐positive bacteria tested were susceptible to the D. granadensis essential oil, while the Gram ‐negative bacteria tested were not.