Bear Root Tincture (What It Is and How to Take It)

A bear root tincture is osha root (Ligusticum porteri) extracted in alcohol and bottled with a dropper. "Bear root" and "osha" are two names for the same plant, a wild relative of celery and lovage that grows high in the mountains. People buy the tincture because it is the easiest way to take osha every day: a dropper under the tongue or a dropper in a glass of water, with no chopping, simmering or straining.

If you want the full plant profile first, our complete guide to osha root covers the botany, the tribes who used it and where it grows.

Why is it called bear root?

The name comes from the bears. Across the mountains where osha grows, the story goes that bears dig up the root when they wake from hibernation, chew it into a mash and rub it through their fur. Several tribes called the plant "bear medicine" or "the gift of the bear." The Lakota name is mato tapejuta, which means bear medicine. In Zuni the plant is Anshe, a word for bear, and the Spanish "oshá" may come from it.

The Diné (Navajo) say the creator gave them osha through the bear. Shawn Sigstedt, an ethnobotanist and biology professor at Colorado Mountain College who lived seven years with a Diné family in northern New Mexico, tested the story with captive brown bears in Colorado Springs. A female named Ma chewed a large root into pulp and spread it over her shoulders, chest and head. Decades later, a motion camera on a ranch near Steamboat Springs caught two wild bears rubbing osha pulp on a tree and then rubbing their bodies against the bark.

People have carried the root for a long time. It turned up in the Patterson Bundle, a leather medicine bag found in Utah and dated to roughly 200 to 600 years old.

What's actually in the bottle

Osha belongs to the carrot and parsley family (Apiaceae). It grows between about 1,500 and 3,500 metres, and the plants are often more than 10 years old by the time the root is dug. The root's best known compound is Z-ligustilide, measured at anywhere from 0.15 to 2.5% of the root. The whole plant smells of celery, more strongly after frost.

A tincture is an alcohol extract. The root sits in alcohol, the alcohol pulls out what's in the root, and the liquid is strained and bottled. Mara's Bear Root is made from osha, a mountain plant of Northern Mexico, the homeland of the Rarámuri, who know the root as wasía. The ingredients list is short. Simple ingredients: premium quality extract. It comes in a 50 ml dark Miron glass dropper bottle.

Sellers use "bear root extract" and "bear root tincture" for the same thing. Both usually mean a liquid alcohol extract in a dropper bottle, and the label should tell you which plant and which liquid went in.

Taste

Earthy and warming, with a sharp, celery-like bite from the root. The first drop is strong. The root itself is often described as smelling of celery and butterscotch, and you can pick up both in the tincture if you smell the dropper before you take it. In water or tea the bite softens and the earthy, savoury side comes forward.

What the research has looked at

The study Mara points to most is a 2008 master's thesis by Oscar Beltran at the University of Texas at El Paso. He tested three plants used by the Rarámuri (Tarahumara) and other groups of northern Mexico against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the lab. Osha, listed as chuchupaste, stood out. At the lowest concentration tested, 5 μg/ml, it stopped more than 50% of the bacterium's growth, and it showed no toxicity to human cells until 50 to 100 μg/ml.

How to take bear root tincture

Most people take 1 to 2 droppers a day. There are two ways to do it.

1. Under the tongue. Fill the dropper, squeeze it under your tongue, hold it there for 20 to 30 seconds, then swallow.
2. In a drink. Stir 1 to 2 droppers into water, tea, juice or a smoothie.

The point of a tincture is that it fits into whatever you already do. Some people take it under the tongue first thing, before coffee. Others add a dropper to a morning or evening tea, where the celery note sits well with ginger or mint. A common one is a dropper in the water bottle before a hike or a run, so it's there when you stop at the top. People take it any time of year, as part of the day, the same way they take a morning coffee.

At 1 to 2 droppers a day, a 50 ml bottle lasts 30 to 50 days. For more detail on how the name and the plant line up across brands, see bear root vs osha root.

Osha root tincture or dried root?

You can buy osha as whole dried root, cut root or powder. For daily use, the tincture is the practical pick, for plain reasons.

• The dose is measured. One dropper is the same amount every time.
• No prep. There is nothing to grind, simmer or strain.
• It keeps for years in dark glass, sealed away from air and light.
• Someone else has identified the plant. Osha grows next to poison hemlock and water hemlock and looks a lot like them, which the University of Kansas Native Medicinal Plant Research Program flags for anyone digging it wild. A bottle from a maker who knows the plant takes that question off your hands.
• It travels. A 50 ml bottle goes in a bag, a desk drawer or a hiking pack.

What to check on a bear root extract label

Five other plants get sold under the osha name, and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia's 2018 monograph notes that this makes quality control harder. A good label settles it quickly.

• The Latin name. Look for Ligusticum porteri written out. "Osha" or "bear root" alone could mean a different species.
• Where it's from. A named region tells you the maker knows where the root was dug.
• The glass. Clear glass lets light reach the extract. Dark amber glass is a step in the right direction, and dark Miron glass is the gold standard. Mara uses dark Miron glass.
• Bottle size. At 1 to 2 droppers a day, 50 ml gives you 30 to 50 days.

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

Is bear root the same as osha root?

Yes. Bear root is a common name for osha, Ligusticum porteri. Other names include chuchupate, Porter's lovage and wasía in Rarámuri.

How many drops of bear root tincture should I take?

Mara's label says 1 to 2 droppers a day, held under the tongue for 20 to 30 seconds or stirred into a drink.

What does bear root tincture taste like?

Earthy and warming, with a sharp bite that reminds most people of celery. It softens a lot in tea or juice.

How long does a bottle last?

At 1 to 2 droppers a day, a 50 ml bottle lasts 30 to 50 days. Kept capped in dark glass, the tincture itself keeps for years.