Witnessed by: Western
Osha (Ligusticum porteri), of the Apiaceae family. Stout aromatic perennial umbellifer with fern-like leaves; native range: high montane meadows of the southern Rocky Mountains and Mexican sierras. Globally recognized as bear root; Porter's lovage; chuchupate in English. The part used is root. Dark, hairy-crowned root with a strong warming celery-and-lovage aroma, spicy and numbing on the tongue.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
OSHA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- osha
- Scientific name
- Ligusticum porteri J.M.Coult. & Rose
- Family
- Apiaceae
Form
- Part used
- root
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- pungent · aromatic · bitter
Temperature
- Western
- warm (drying)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- lungs · mucous membranes
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- warming expectorant, antimicrobial, diaphoretic, bronchodilator, immune stimulant
Cautions
- Contraindications
- avoid in pregnancy as an emmenagogue
- Toxicity
- low at customary dose; wild collectors must not confuse the root with the deadly poison hemlocks it grows among
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