Bear root and osha root are the same plant, Ligusticum porteri. When people compare bear root vs osha root, they're comparing two common names for one mountain member of the carrot and parsley family. Which name you see mostly depends on who is selling it and which tradition they learned it from.
Is bear root the same as osha?
Yes. Both names point to Ligusticum porteri, a perennial that usually stands 50 to 130 cm tall, with parsley-like leaves and white flower umbels, and grows at roughly 1,500 to 3,500 metres, from the mountains of Northern Mexico north through the Rocky Mountains. The root is dark brown and wrinkled outside, yellowish inside, and smells strongly of celery. A bottle labelled "bear root" and a bottle labelled "osha" can contain identical root, as long as the Latin name matches.
Where the name osha comes from
"Osha" (also written oshá) is usually traced to a Native American word for bear, though sources don't agree on which language it came from. So the English name and the bear name point the same way. Osha has become the standard name in herb shops and in reference books such as the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, which published a monograph on the plant in 2018. In Mexico and New Mexico, the everyday name is the Spanish chuchupate.
Where the bear root name comes from
The bear name is older than any shop label. The Lakota call the plant mato tapejuta, bear medicine. The Diné (Navajo) credit knowledge of the plant to the bear, and other names recorded for it include "gift of the bear" and "the plant that the bear knows."
There is also a modern observation behind it. In 1994, National Wildlife magazine described how ethnobotanist Shawn Sigstedt offered the root to Kodiak brown bears at a zoo in Colorado Springs. The bears chewed it into a paste and rubbed it over their faces and fur. Sigstedt later filmed wild black bears near Steamboat Springs rubbing osha pulp onto a tree and then rubbing against the bark.
Other names you'll see
- Chuchupate, the Spanish name in Mexico and New Mexico, with spellings such as chuchupaste and chuchufate.
- Wasía, the Rarámuri name.
- Porter's lovage and mountain lovage, from its relationship to garden lovage.
- Wild celery and wild parsley, from its smell and leaf shape.
- Loveroot.
For the full story of the plant, including where it grows and how named peoples have used it, read our osha root guide.
Mara sells its osha tincture under the name Bear Root, with Ligusticum porteri in the product name. It's a mountain plant of Northern Mexico, and the tincture tastes earthy and warming, with a sharp, celery-like bite from the root.
Bear Root – Osha Root Tincture
50 ml dropper bottle. Ligusticum porteri from the mountains of Northern Mexico.
Add to bagPlants that get confused with osha
One name covering one plant would be tidy. In practice, several plants travel under the osha name, and some of the look-alikes in the field are dangerous.
Other Ligusticum species
Coverage of the 2018 American Herbal Pharmacopoeia monograph reports that six chemically similar species share the common name oshá. Ligusticum porteri is the most common, and it's the only one listed in Herbs of Commerce, the reference for botanical names in trade. A bottle that says "osha" without a Latin name could hold any of them.
Poison hemlock and water hemlock
In the wild, osha looks a lot like poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) and water hemlock (Cicuta), both deadly. They share parsley-like leaves and white umbrella-shaped flower heads. Hemlock parsley, cow parsnip and biscuitroots are also mistaken for it. Experienced harvesters separate osha by its spicy celery smell, the hairy fibres on the root crown and the dark, wrinkled root skin. Anyone who doesn't know the plant well should buy osha rather than dig it.
Bear root vs osha root on a label
Common names drift from region to region and from seller to seller. The Latin name is the one label detail that fixes the species. If you're buying bear root or osha, look for Ligusticum porteri printed on the bottle or product page.
Questions people ask
Is chuchupate the same as osha?
Yes. Chuchupate is the Spanish name for Ligusticum porteri in Mexico and New Mexico.
Why is osha called bear root?
Several Native American peoples tie the plant to the bear, and bears have been seen chewing the root and rubbing it into their fur. The Lakota name, mato tapejuta, means bear medicine.
Is osha the same as lovage?
No. They're relatives in the same family (Apiaceae), which is why osha is sometimes called Porter's lovage or mountain lovage. Garden lovage is Levisticum officinale.
