The osha root smell is the first thing anyone who has handled the plant mentions. Claire DeLeo, an herbalist writing on the alt.folklore.herbs newsgroup in September 1995, said the hairy root "has a strong odor," close to celery, and added that once you have dug the root, "you won't ever forget it." Open a bottle of osha tincture and you get the same note: celery and lovage up front, then something spicy and musky underneath that hangs in the air for a minute after the cap goes back on.
What does osha root smell like?
Most people reach for celery first. The Wikipedia entry for Ligusticum porteri, drawing on field guides, describes the scent as "spicy celery" and also compares it to butterscotch, which surprises people until they smell a fresh piece of root and catch the sweet edge behind the green.
Lovage is the closer match. Osha belongs to the carrot and parsley family (Apiaceae), and lovage (Levisticum officinale) is a close relative in the same family. If you have ever rubbed a lovage leaf in a herb garden, osha root smells like that leaf turned up several notches, with a darker, resinous, almost musky base.
The root is described as smelling stronger after frosts, and the leaves give off their own sharp fragrance when crushed. The root carries the most.
Where the smell comes from
The main aroma compound is Z-ligustilide, a phthalide found in osha root at 0.15 to 2.5% of the root's weight. Phthalides are the same family of molecules that give celery and lovage their smell. The fragrance database scent.vn lists Z-ligustilide's odor profile as herbal first, then spicy, then celery, and records lovage root as its richest known source, where it can make up more than half of the essential oil.
Osha stopped more than half the growth of the TB bacterium at the lowest concentration tested.
The osha root smell is how people told it from poison hemlock
Osha looks a lot like poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), and it can also be confused with water hemlock (Cicuta). All three are tall plants with lacy leaves and white umbrella-shaped flower heads. In parts of the range the plants can grow only a few feet apart.
For generations of harvesters, the nose was part of the check. Osha root has that strong spicy celery scent. Poison hemlock root has little or no smell, and the plant itself gives off a musty, "mousy" odor. Field descriptions also point to osha's hairy collar of old leaf bases at the top of the root and its wrinkled, dark brown skin over a yellow inside, where hemlock roots are white, fleshy and thin-skinned. The University of Kansas native plants program notes that telling osha from its look-alikes takes a close look at the seeds and roots, "including the smell of the roots."
Experienced foragers will also tell you smell alone is not enough. In a 1995 reply to DeLeo, the wildcrafting teacher Howie Brounstein pointed out that every root growing in a clump of osha will smell like osha, so a stray hemlock in the middle of an osha patch can pick up the same scent. He called identifying carrot-family roots by smell "very dangerous." A wrong guess with hemlock can kill, and that is the plain reason people without years of training should not dig wild osha.
There is a second reason. Almost all osha on the market is wild-harvested, the plants are often more than 10 years old when dug, and United Plant Savers lists osha as "At-Risk." The plant grows at 1,500 to 3,500 m.
Bear root smell and the bear story
The name bear root comes from the animal that seems to like the smell most. The story goes that bears dig up osha when they come out of hibernation and chew it. The ethnobotanist Shawn Sigstedt watched Kodiak bears chew the root and rub the paste into their fur. The Lakota name for the plant is mato tapejuta, "bear medicine," and Diné tradition credits the medicine to the bear.
People used the root in many ways over the centuries. Rarámuri families in Northern Mexico brewed it as a tea, and New Mexico ranchers drank it as chuchupate tea. Osha root has even turned up in a Utah medicine bundle 200 to 600 years old.
Opening a bottle of Bear Root
Mara's Bear Root is an osha root tincture made from Ligusticum porteri, a mountain plant of Northern Mexico. Unscrew the dropper and the smell reaches you before the liquid does: celery and lovage, then the musky, resinous base that DeLeo couldn't forget.
Most people use it one of three ways, and each one shows the aroma differently.
- Under the tongue. One to two droppers, held for 20 to 30 seconds, then swallowed. You smell it as you taste it, earthy and warming with a sharp, celery-like bite.
- In morning tea. A dropper stirred into a mug lifts the steam with that green, spicy note, and the whole kitchen picks it up.
- In a water bottle after a hike or run. A dropper in your water gives a lighter, more herbal smell, closer to fresh lovage than to the dug root.
A tincture gives you the real osha aroma any day of the year, without hunting for a root, checking it against hemlock or worrying about where it came from. A bottle lasts 30 to 50 days at 1 to 2 droppers a day. The ingredients are simple: premium quality extract.
Why dark Miron glass keeps the aroma
Aroma compounds break down with light and air. Dried root and powder sit exposed every time the bag is opened, and loose powder has a lot of surface for the oils to escape from. A sealed tincture keeps the ligustilide and the other volatile oils in liquid, away from air.
The bottle matters too. Dark amber glass is a step in the right direction. Dark Miron glass is the gold standard, and it is what Mara uses for Bear Root. Miron says its glass filters out the wavelengths of light that cause breakdown, and that natural scents "stay fuller and lose less intensity" in it. The smell on the hundredth dropper should be close to the smell on the first.
Bear Root – Osha Root Tincture
50 ml dropper bottle. Ligusticum porteri from the mountains of Northern Mexico.
Add to bagFor more on the plant, its names and where it grows, see our full guide to osha root. If you are comparing brands, our notes on choosing the best osha root tincture cover what to check on the label.
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
Does osha root smell like celery?
Yes. Celery is the most common comparison, and lovage is closer still. Both share osha's main aroma compound, Z-ligustilide.
Does osha root smell like poison hemlock?
No. Poison hemlock root has little or no smell, and the plant smells musty or mousy. Smell alone is still not a safe way to identify a wild root, because roots growing in a clump of osha can pick up its scent.
Is bear root smell the same as osha root smell?
Yes. Bear root is a common name for osha (Ligusticum porteri), so it is the same plant and the same spicy celery scent.
Why does my osha tincture smell so strong?
A tincture holds the root's volatile oils in liquid, so the full aroma comes out each time you open the bottle. Dark Miron glass keeps light off it, so the smell holds up from the first dropper to the last.