Most of what is written about osha root tincture benefits goes back to the peoples who dug the root for centuries, and to a handful of lab studies that tested what they used it for. Osha (Ligusticum porteri) has one of the longer paper trails of any mountain root in North America. Pieces of the root turned up in the Patterson Bundle, a leather medicine satchel from Utah dated 200 to 600 years old, and university labs have been testing it since 2008. A tincture puts that same root into a dropper you can use in thirty seconds.
What osha is
Osha is a member of the carrot and parsley family (Apiaceae) and a close relative of lovage. It grows high, at 1,500 to 3,500 m. Mara's Bear Root is a mountain plant of Northern Mexico, where the Rarámuri call it wasía. The root smells of celery and butterscotch. Plants are often over ten years old by the time the root is dug, and almost all osha on the market is wild-harvested, because cultivation has had little success.
The common name comes from bears. The story told across the Southwest is that bears dig up the root and chew it. Ethnobotanist Shawn Sigstedt, who lived and studied with the Diné, tested it with captive bears in 1990. They chewed the root to a mash and rubbed it through their fur.
Osha root medicinal uses, as the people who used it describe them
Most of what is known about osha comes from the peoples who have used it for generations. Each tradition has its own account:
- The Zuni took the crushed root in water for sore throat and drank an infusion for body aches. The root was also chewed during curing ceremonies.
- The Diné used it for colds and a hoarse voice, and credit the bear with leading them to the plant.
- Rarámuri families in the Sierra Madre of Northern Mexico brewed it as a tea for stomach pain and fever, and used it for chest infections.
- The Southern Ute kept it for colds and flu, and for spiritual protection.
- In New Mexico, Hispanic ranching families call it chuchupate and make chuchupate tea when colds and sore throats go around.
- The Lakota name is mato tapejuta, bear medicine. The Comanche used it for pneumonia.
Respiratory use runs through nearly every account. A 2018 monograph from the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, written with United Plant Savers, describes traditional use as mostly for respiratory infections, and records osha in the medicine systems of the Hopi, Diné and Zuni.
Osha stopped more than half the growth of the TB bacterium at the lowest concentration tested.
Osha root tincture benefits in published research
The best-known study came out of the University of Texas at El Paso. In 2008, Oscar Beltran's master's thesis tested three plants used in northern Mexico and the Southwest against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the TB bacterium. He chose osha because the Tarahumara (Rarámuri) use it for TB and other chest infections. Osha stopped more than half of the bacterium's growth at the lowest concentration tested. At that concentration it showed no toxicity to human U-937 cells, and Beltran wrote that the root "may possess therapeutic value."
Other osha root extract benefits reported in lab work:
- A 2015 paper in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology gave rats oral organic extracts of the root at 30 mg/kg and recorded gastroprotection against ethanol-induced stomach lesions. Diligustilide, one of the root's compounds, did the same at 10 mg/kg.
- A compound isolated from the root, 3-(Z)-butylidenephthalide, lowered blood glucose in diabetic mice after a sugar load at an oral dose of 56.2 mg/kg.
- Test-tube studies on Z-ligustilide, the root's signature compound, report antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.
Z-ligustilide makes up 0.15 to 2.5% of the root. In the essential oil it runs higher. Durić and colleagues measured 3.74% ligustilide in osha oil in 2020 by qHNMR.
Why a bear root tincture fits into a normal day
The root itself is hard to live with. It is dense and woody, it takes a long simmer to get anything out of it, and an open bag of dried root slowly loses its smell on the shelf. A tincture does the extraction once, properly, and keeps what comes out of the root in liquid form.
With Bear Root, a day with osha takes about thirty seconds. You fill the dropper, hold 1 to 2 droppers under your tongue for 20 to 30 seconds, then swallow. If you would rather not taste it straight, it goes into hot tea, a glass of water, juice or a smoothie. The taste is earthy and warming, with a sharp, celery-like bite from the root. Stirred into hot tea in the evening, it comes close to the chuchupate tea New Mexico families still make.
A 50 ml bottle lasts 30 to 50 days at 1 to 2 droppers a day, so one bottle covers more than a month of daily use. It sits in a bag or a desk drawer and goes on trips without a kettle or a strainer.
Dark Miron glass
Light breaks down plant compounds over time. Dark amber glass is a step in the right direction. The gold standard is dark Miron glass, which blocks most visible light, and that is what Bear Root comes in. The extract stays sealed from air and light from the first dropper to the last.
No hemlock look-alike to worry about
Osha has two look-alikes in poison hemlock and water hemlock, and above ground the three are easy to mix up. Wild-harvesting osha yourself means telling them apart with certainty, then digging a plant that took a decade to grow and that United Plant Savers lists as At-Risk. Buying a tincture made from identified root means none of that falls to you.
Bear Root – Osha Root Tincture
50 ml dropper bottle. Ligusticum porteri from the mountains of Northern Mexico.
Add to bagWhat goes into Bear Root
Simple ingredients: premium quality extract. The root is Ligusticum porteri from the mountains of Northern Mexico, the same range where Rarámuri families have brewed it for generations. For the full history of the plant, the complete guide to osha root covers its range, names and harvest. If you are comparing bottles from different makers, this rundown of what to look for in an osha root tincture goes through species, extraction and glass.
Questions people ask
What is osha root tincture used for?
Traditionally, osha was used by the Zuni, Diné, Rarámuri and other peoples for sore throats, colds, coughs and chest infections, and the Rarámuri also used it for stomach pain and fever. As a tincture, it goes under the tongue or into tea.
How much osha tincture do you take a day?
The Bear Root label recommendation is 1 to 2 droppers a day, held under the tongue for 20 to 30 seconds and then swallowed, or stirred into water, tea, juice or a smoothie.
Is bear root the same as osha?
Yes. Bear root is a common name for osha, Ligusticum porteri, after the story of bears digging up and chewing the root. The Lakota name, mato tapejuta, means bear medicine.
What does osha tincture taste like?
Earthy and warming, with a sharp, celery-like bite from the root. In tea the bite softens.