How to Take Osha Root Drops, One Dropper at a Time

Osha root drops are a liquid extract of Ligusticum porteri, the mountain root also known as bear root, sold in a small glass bottle with a dropper in the cap. Most people who search for them already know the plant. They want the liquid form, and they want to know how much to take and what to do with it. Mara's version is Bear Root, a 50 ml osha root tincture from the mountains of Northern Mexico, taken one or two droppers a day.

What osha root drops are

"Drops" is the everyday name for a tincture, which is an alcohol extract of the root. The bottle carries the root's smell and taste in a form you can measure with a pipette.

Osha belongs to the carrot and parsley family (Apiaceae) and is a close relative of lovage. It grows between 1,500 and 3,500 metres. The plant also grows in high mountains further north, but Bear Root is a mountain plant of Northern Mexico. Almost all osha on the market is wild-harvested, and the roots are often more than 10 years old when they are dug. In the field it looks a lot like poison hemlock, so most people buy it as a finished extract.

For the full story of the plant, its names and where it grows, read our guide to osha root.

A dropper, a drop, and the difference

One dropper is the glass pipette in the cap, filled by one squeeze of the rubber bulb.

A drop is much smaller. The United States Pharmacopeia defines a standard medicine dropper as one with a tip about 3 mm across that releases drops of water weighing 45 to 55 mg each. That works out to about 20 drops in a millilitre of water. The same chapter notes that most liquids don't share water's surface tension, so the drop size changes from one liquid to the next. An alcohol extract won't give you exactly 20.

That is why Bear Root is measured in droppers. Counting 20 drops into your mouth every morning is slow and the number shifts with the liquid. One squeeze of the bulb is the same every time.

How to use osha root drops

1. Unscrew the cap and squeeze the bulb while the pipette is in the liquid.
2. Let go and wait a second for the glass to fill.
3. Either empty it under your tongue, or empty it into a glass of water, a mug of tea, a juice or a smoothie.

Osha tincture under the tongue

Empty the dropper under your tongue, hold it there for 20 to 30 seconds, then swallow. Nothing to mix, no cup to wash, and you get the full taste of the root. It is the easy way to take it at a desk or in the car park before work, and the whole thing takes less time than reading this paragraph.

Stirred into a drink

If the taste is too sharp straight, stir the dropper into about a glass of water or a mug of tea. Juice and smoothies cover it further.

Osha root dosage for Bear Root

The Bear Root label says 1 to 2 droppers a day. Some people split it, one in the morning and one in the evening. At 1 to 2 droppers a day, a 50 ml bottle lasts 30 to 50 days.

Start with one dropper for the first few days while you get used to the taste, then settle on what suits your day. Keep the bottle where you will see it. A bottle in a drawer gets forgotten by Wednesday.

Taste

Earthy and warming, with a sharp, celery-like bite from the root. That celery note is the same one people describe when they dig the plant: the fresh root has a celery-like smell, and it is one of the ways foragers tell it apart from hemlock.

Under the tongue the bite is the first thing you notice, and the warmth follows as you swallow. In a mug of tea the earthy side comes forward and the bite drops back.

Where the drops fit in a day

Bear Root is a year-round habit, and the moments people tie it to are ordinary ones.

Morning tea is the most common. A dropper goes into the mug with the tea bag, before the water. Evening tea works the same way, and a herbal tea with ginger or lemon sits well next to the root's warmth.

Runners and hikers put a dropper into the water bottle after a hike or run, so the first long drink at the trailhead tastes of the root. And at a desk, the dropper goes straight under the tongue between calls, with the bottle left next to the keyboard as the reminder.

Drops are the practical form for daily use

Osha is also sold as dried root, powder and capsules. For a daily habit the drops win on plain, practical grounds.

• No preparation. Dried root has to be cut and brewed before you get anything from it. A dropper is ready the moment the cap comes off.
• A dose you can see. The liquid sits in clear view in the pipette, and you can see whether you took one dropper or two. A capsule is a fixed amount in a shell.
• You taste what you are taking. The earthy, celery-like bite tells you it is osha. A capsule tells you nothing.

The bottle matters too. A plant extract left in clear glass sits under daylight every time the cupboard opens. Dark amber glass is a step in the right direction. The gold standard is dark Miron glass, which Miron describes as filtering the specific wavelengths of light that can affect natural ingredients, and it is what Mara uses for Bear Root. A dropper that stays capped between uses also keeps the liquid sealed from the air, which a bag of loose root can't do. If you are comparing brands, our notes on what to look for in an osha root tincture go through the label checks.

Why it is called bear root

The name comes from the bears. The story goes that bears dig up the root and chew it when they wake from hibernation, and the observer Shawn Sigstedt watched Kodiak bears chew osha and rub it into their fur. The Lakota name for the plant is mato tapejuta, "bear medicine". Rarámuri families of Northern Mexico brewed the root as a tea, and a medicine bundle found in Utah, 200 to 600 years old, held osha among its contents.

Bear Root considerations

Contains alcohol. Not recommended during pregnancy. If you're nursing or taking medication, ask your doctor before using it.

Questions people ask

Are bear root drops the same as osha root drops?

Yes. Bear root is a common name for osha (Ligusticum porteri), so bear root drops and osha root drops are the same thing, a tincture of the root in a dropper bottle.

How many drops are in one dropper?

It depends on the dropper and the liquid. By the United States Pharmacopeia's dropper standard, 1 ml of water is about 20 drops, and an alcohol extract gives a different count, which is why Bear Root is measured in full droppers.

How long does a bottle of osha drops last?

A 50 ml bottle of Bear Root lasts 30 to 50 days at 1 to 2 droppers a day.

Can I put osha root drops in tea or water?

Yes. Stir a dropper into water, tea, juice or a smoothie. It softens the sharp, celery-like bite, and the amount you take stays the same.