An osha root essential oil is the smell of the root, caught in a small bottle. Break a fresh osha root and the scent comes up fast. The Wikipedia entry for Ligusticum porteri describes it as similar to butterscotch and celery, and anyone who has cut into the root knows how fast it fills a room. People who search for the oil usually want that aroma and character in a form they can use at home. The oil is one way. A tincture is the other, and for a daily drop it is the one most people end up keeping on the counter.
What is osha root essential oil?
An essential oil is the volatile, scent-carrying part of a plant, separated out by distillation. The ISO 9235 standard defines it as a product obtained from plant material by distillation with water or steam (citrus peel oils, which are pressed, are the other main type). For osha, the chopped root goes into a still, the steam carries the aromatic compounds over, and the oil separates from the water as it cools.
What ends up in the bottle is a fraction of the root. Only the compounds light enough to travel with steam make it across. The fibre, the heavier resins and everything that does not evaporate stay behind in the still.
What the oil is made of
The best composition data comes from a 2005 study in the Flavour and Fragrance Journal by Cégiéla-Carlioz and colleagues. They distilled osha root with water and identified 42 compounds in the oil. Three led the profile:
- sabinyl acetate, about 56.6% of the oil
- (Z)-ligustilide, about 12.9%
- sabinol, about 3.3%
The same team also extracted the root with a solvent (dichloromethane) instead of steam. That extract came out with (Z)-ligustilide at about 39.1% and sabinyl acetate at about 34.6%. Same root, very different balance. The way you pull compounds out of osha decides which ones you get, and in what proportion.
Z-ligustilide is a compound osha shares with its relative lovage. In the whole root it sits at roughly 0.15 to 2.5%, depending on the plant and where it grew.
How people use osha root oil
Essential oils are sold for aromatic use, and osha oil is no different. The usual ways people use it:
- a few drops in an ultrasonic diffuser
- a drop on a cloth or a personal inhaler stick
- blended into a carrier oil such as jojoba for massage, as aromatherapy practice does with any essential oil
An osha essential oil is very concentrated. A single drop holds the volatile output of a lot of root, and it is made to be smelled or diluted. It is not a product you measure out by the dropper and take. If what you want is osha as part of your day, in a drink or under the tongue, you are looking for a different product.
When you shop for one, read the label for the words "steam distilled" and the Latin name, Ligusticum porteri. A root soaked in jojoba or olive oil is an infused oil, which is a different product.
Osha stopped more than half the growth of the TB bacterium at the lowest concentration tested.
Osha essential oil vs tincture
A tincture is an alcohol extract of the whole root. The root sits in the liquid for weeks, and the alcohol draws out both the light aromatics and the heavier compounds that never leave the still in distillation. You get the full character of the root, earthy and warming, with the sharp, celery-like bite that the Wikipedia description hints at.
Set side by side, the two do different jobs:
- The essential oil is the steam-carried fraction of the root. The tincture is a whole-root extract.
- The oil goes in a diffuser or a carrier oil. The tincture goes under the tongue, or into tea, water, juice or a smoothie.
- The oil is counted in drops. The tincture is measured with a dropper, 1 to 2 droppers a day.
- A 50 ml bottle of Bear Root lasts 30 to 50 days at that amount, so you know when to reorder.
Storage counts for both. Light and air wear down aromatic compounds over time. 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.
If you want to compare tinctures from different makers, our notes on what to check before you buy an osha root tincture go through the label line by line.
How to use osha root every day
Bear Root is osha, a mountain plant of Northern Mexico, and people fit it into the day in a few ways:
- under the tongue, held for 20 to 30 seconds, then swallowed
- a dropper stirred into morning tea, or an evening cup before bed
- a dropper in your water bottle after a hike or a run
The taste is strong at first. Tea or a water bottle softens the bite, and the root's smell comes up from a hot mug the same way it comes off a diffuser. One bottle covers a month or more, any time of year.
Bear Root – Osha Root Tincture
50 ml dropper bottle. Ligusticum porteri from the mountains of Northern Mexico.
Add to bagBears and the smell of the root
The scent is the oldest thing anyone knows about osha. The Lakota name is mato tapejuta, bear medicine, and the story goes that bears dig up the root when they wake from hibernation and chew it. The observer Shawn Sigstedt watched Kodiak bears chew osha root and rub it into their fur. In Northern Mexico, Rarámuri families brewed the root as a tea for stomach pain and fever. A piece of osha turned up in a Utah medicine bundle dated to between 200 and 600 years old.
The plant grows at 1,500 to 3,500 metres, from the high mountains further north down into the Sierra Madre. It belongs to the carrot and parsley family (Apiaceae) and looks a lot like poison hemlock, which is one reason to buy from someone who knows the plant rather than digging it yourself. For where it grows, what it looks like and how people have used it over the centuries, see our complete guide to osha root.
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
Can you take osha essential oil by mouth?
Osha essential oil is a concentrated aromatic product, sold for diffusers and for dilution in a carrier oil. For osha in a drink or under the tongue, people use a tincture, measured with a dropper.
What does osha root oil smell like?
Celery and lovage first, with a sweet note often compared to butterscotch. In the distilled oil, sabinyl acetate and (Z)-ligustilide are the two main compounds.
Is osha oil the same as an osha tincture?
No. The essential oil is distilled and holds only the compounds that travel with steam, while a tincture is an alcohol extract of the whole root and is taken 1 to 2 droppers a day.
How long does a bottle of Bear Root last?
At 1 to 2 droppers a day, a 50 ml bottle lasts 30 to 50 days. It is kept in dark Miron glass, so the extract stays protected from light between uses.
