Osha root vs echinacea is a choice most people make standing in front of a shelf, with two amber bottles and two very different plants behind the labels. Echinacea is the purple coneflower of the prairie, grown by the acre and sold almost everywhere. Osha (Ligusticum porteri) is a wild root dug from high mountain slopes, and Mara's Bear Root comes from the mountains of Northern Mexico. They share almost nothing in family, habitat or flavor.
Osha root vs echinacea at a glance
- Plant family. Osha is Apiaceae (carrot and parsley family). Echinacea is Asteraceae (daisy and sunflower family).
- Where it grows. Osha grows at 1,500 to 3,500 m in high mountains, south into Northern Mexico. Echinacea grows on prairies and open woods of eastern and central North America.
- Part used. Osha is the root. Echinacea is the root, the leaves and flowers, or both.
- Supply. Osha is almost all wild-harvested. Most echinacea products come from cultivated Echinacea purpurea.
- Taste. Osha is earthy and warming with a sharp, celery-like bite.
Two plants from different families
Osha sits in the carrot family next to lovage, celery and parsley. You can see it in the plant: hollow stems, lacy leaves and flat umbrellas of small white flowers. The family resemblance runs so close that osha looks like poison hemlock, which is one reason experienced harvesters do the digging.
Echinacea belongs to the daisy family, with a domed, spiky seed head ringed by drooping purple petals. The name comes from the Greek ekhinos, meaning hedgehog, after that spiny cone. Botanists count nine or ten species, and three of them (E. purpurea, E. angustifolia and E. pallida) go into commercial products.
Osha stopped more than half the growth of the TB bacterium at the lowest concentration tested.
Where each one grows
Echinacea is a lowland plant. Its native range runs from Saskatchewan down to Texas and Louisiana and east to the Carolinas, always east of the Rocky Mountains, on wet to dry prairie.
Osha lives much higher. It grows near the top of the subalpine zone, around 2,100 to 3,000 m in the south of its range, and reaches into the Sierra country of Northern Mexico, where the Rarámuri call it wasía. Bear Root is a mountain plant of Northern Mexico. The root smells stronger after frost, and the tops die back each year while the root keeps growing underground for a decade or more.
Taste is where they split
Open a bottle of Bear Root and the smell arrives first: celery seed, damp earth, something close to lovage. A dropper under the tongue tastes earthy and warming, with a sharp, celery-like bite from the root that stays with you for a minute after you swallow.
Osha's character comes partly from Z-ligustilide, an aromatic compound that makes up 0.15 to 2.5% of the root. Lovage, its close cousin, carries the same compound, and the two roots smell alike.
Who used them first
Echinacea's history belongs to the Plains. Ethnobotanist Melvin Gilmore, who studied the Missouri River nations, wrote that echinacea "seems to have been used as a remedy for more ailments than any other plant." The Pawnee used it for toothaches, the Cheyenne for sore necks and backs, and Lakota people chewed the root. Lewis and Clark sent a sample east from Fort Mandan in 1805.
Osha's record runs through the mountains and is older on paper. A piece of the root turned up in a Utah medicine bundle dated 200 to 600 years old. Rarámuri families in Northern Mexico brewed it as a tea for stomach pain and fever. The Zuni used it for sore throats and body aches. The Diné credit the medicine to the bear, and the Lakota name, mato tapejuta, means bear medicine. Observer Shawn Sigstedt watched Kodiak bears chew the root and rub it into their fur, and the story that bears dig it up when they wake from hibernation gave the plant its English nickname.
What the research has looked at
Echinacea is one of the most studied herbs in the Western world. The 2014 Cochrane review by Karsch-Völk and colleagues pooled 24 controlled trials with 4,631 participants, and seven of those trials used the aerial parts of Echinacea purpurea.
Osha research is younger and focused on the root the Rarámuri use. In a 2008 study at the University of Texas at El Paso, Oscar Beltran tested three plants used in Northern Mexico and the Southwest. Osha extract stopped more than half the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis at the lowest concentration tested.
Echinacea is farmed. Osha is wild.
Commercial echinacea farming started in Germany in the late 1930s, and purple coneflower now grows in fields and in backyard gardens around the world.
Osha resists farming. It depends on mycorrhizal fungi in its native soil, and attempts to grow it outside its mountain habitat have failed. Almost every osha root sold is wild-harvested, and plants are often more than 10 years old when they are dug. United Plant Savers lists osha as At-Risk. A bottle of osha extract holds a root that took a decade on a mountainside to reach that size.
Osha or echinacea for a daily ritual?
If you want an herb with a story, a flavor you will notice and a root you can't get from a farm field, osha is the pick. Bear Root makes it easy to use every day, any time of year. Hold 1 to 2 droppers under the tongue for 20 to 30 seconds and swallow, or stir it into morning tea, a water bottle after a hike or run, juice or a smoothie. A 50 ml bottle lasts 30 to 50 days at that rate.
The extract is the practical form of a wild root. A jar of dried root or powder is opened to air and light every time you use it. Bear Root keeps the root's aromatics sealed in dark Miron glass, which keeps light off the liquid. Ingredients are short. Simple ingredients: premium quality extract. If you are comparing bottles, our guide to choosing the best osha root tincture covers what to check on the label.
Bear Root – Osha Root Tincture
50 ml dropper bottle. Ligusticum porteri from the mountains of Northern Mexico.
Add to bagOsha and echinacea together
Many herbal fans keep both on the shelf and take them together, a few drops of each in the same cup of tea or one after the other under the tongue. If you start with one, Bear Root brings the stronger flavor and the rarer root, and it is the bottle people tend to reach for first once they know the taste.
For the full story of the plant, from the Rarámuri name to how the root is harvested, read our complete guide to osha root.
Bear Root considerations
The product page recommendation: Contains alcohol. Not recommended during pregnancy. If you're nursing or taking medication, ask your doctor before using it.
Questions people ask
Is osha the same as echinacea?
No. Osha (Ligusticum porteri) is a carrot-family root from high mountains, and echinacea is a daisy-family coneflower from the prairies.
Which tastes stronger, osha or echinacea?
Osha, by a wide margin. Bear Root is earthy and warming with a sharp, celery-like bite, and the smell alone fills a room.
Can you mix echinacea and osha root tincture in tea?
Many herbal fans do, adding a dropper of each to hot water or tea. Bear Root also works on its own in morning or evening tea, juice or a smoothie.
Why is osha harder to find than echinacea?
Osha won't grow outside its mountain habitat, so nearly all of it is wild-harvested from plants often over 10 years old. United Plant Savers lists it as At-Risk.