Three Gram-staining-positive, strictly aerobic, motile, catalase-positive, endospore-forming rods, designated WCC 4582(T), WCC 4581 and WCC 4583, were isolated from two different food sources and a pharmaceuticals production site. The three isolates were highly similar in their 16S rRNA gene sequences (100 % similarity) and groEL sequences (99.2-100 % similarity), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic fingerprints and other features tested. The isolates were most closely related to Bacillus horneckiae; the isolates and the type strain of B. horneckiae shared 97.6 % and 89.6 % 16S rRNA gene and groEL sequence similarities, respectively. The organisms grew optimally at 30 °C, at pH 7 and in the presence of 0.5 % (w/v) NaCl. The cell-wall peptidoglycan of WCC 4582(T) contained meso-diaminopimelic acid (A1γ) and the genomic DNA G+C content was 36.4 mol%. DNA-DNA relatedness between strain WCC 4582(T) and B. horneckiae NRRL B-59162(T) was 17 %. The three isolates are considered to represent a novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus kochii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is WCC 4582(T) ( = DSM 23667(T) = CCUG 59877(T) = LMG 25855(T)).