HerbalEGram: Volume 16, Issue 1, January 2019

On December 3, 2018, the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) announced the publication of monograph standards and a therapeutic compendium for oshá (Ligusticum porteri, Apiaceae, and related species) root.¹ According to AHP, this monograph includes the first published pharmacopeial standards for this North American botanical.

The AHP monographs establish authenticity, purity, and quality standards for raw materials and preparations. The therapeutic compendiums provide a comprehensive review of pharmacological and safety data, including information on pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, medical indications, modern and traditional uses, structure and function claims, dosages, interactions, side effects, contraindications, toxicology, and more. This information can be used by a variety of individuals in the herbal community, from consumers and practitioners to quality control personnel and dietary supplement manufacturers.

The publication is the result of a collaboration among AHP; Kelly Kindscher, PhD, of the University of Kansas; and the United Plant Savers (UpS), and was partially funded by the American Herbal Products Association Foundation for Education and Research on Botanicals (AHPA-ERB Foundation). Special contributions were made by Shawn Sigstedt, PhD, of Colorado Mountain College and Healing Planet Herbs, Inc., who has dedicated much of his life to the study of oshá. Fourteen authors from around the world contributed to the monograph and therapeutic compendium, and 28 experts from academia, industry, and medical practice reviewed it before publication. The work for the monograph began in 2014, after Kindscher, the publication’s associate editor, received a grant from the AHPA-ERB Foundation to conduct a sustainability assessment on the impact of wild collection on oshá populations.

The monograph opens with an extensive history section that details oshá’s traditional uses by Native American tribes, its introduction to modern-day herbal practice, and how animals have used it to self-medicate (i.e., zoopharmacognosy). Another common name for oshá is “bear root.” Ethnobotanists have recorded bears both in captivity and in the wild chewing oshá roots and rubbing against the plant. Also, in one remarkable account, a bear applied the root to its own gunshot wounds.

Multiple species in the Apiaceae family are referred to as “oshá,” including L. canbyi, L. filicinum, L. grayi, L. tenuifolium, and Conioselinum scopulorum. According to AHP President Roy Upton, RH (AHG), DipAyu, the recognition of other species as oshá is important because, while AHPA’s Herbs of Commerce, 2nd edition, lists only L. porteri as an accepted species,² these closely-related species are difficult to distinguish in the wild and many are used interchangeably. Because oshá cultivation is limited and much of the available product in commerce is wild-harvested, knowledge of these species and their subtle morphological differences is especially important for quality control initiatives and sustainability.

Oshá is a high-altitude plant with extensive ritualistic and medicinal traditions of use by Native American tribes in its native range: northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, Pacific Northwest, and Rocky Mountains. Modern herbalists primarily use oshá root for respiratory infections and other upper respiratory disturbances, including cough. In vitro studies have confirmed the antimicrobial effects of oshá root essential oil. The hormone melatonin and neurotransmitter serotonin also have been identified in L. porteri and L. canbyi, which suggests that oshá root may have potential positive effects on mental health.

According to Upton, who edited the monograph and therapeutic compendium: “I first learned of oshá from a Navajo friend, Molly Olivas, whose uncles used it to keep away rattlesnakes. They would tie it to their boots when hunting. I was then introduced to lovage [Levisticum officinale, Apiaceae] by California herbalist Bea Meyers, who asked me to pick it from her garden. I was amazed at how similar they were. I swore the lovage was oshá. That was the genesis of broadening our reach beyond a single species.

“I am sincerely grateful for the financial support provided by UpS and the AHPA-ERB Foundation, and that they saw the development of the monograph as a natural extension of conducting formal population studies,” Upton continued. “Oshá is such an important traditionally used herb that we have to have a knowledge base, both to know how to use it and to know how to protect it. Sometimes understanding or emphasizing when not to use something is more important than knowing its benefits. The Ligusticum genus is populated with amazing botanicals, many with similar activity, so we have to think broadly when considering the use of oshá.”

American Botanical Council (ABC) Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal said: “ABC congratulates AHP for yet another excellent contribution to the world’s medicinal plant literature with the publication of the oshá monograph and therapeutic compendium.”

Blumenthal continued: “I am quite familiar with various medicinal uses of this wild aromatic root from my days in the mountains of northern New Mexico, where oshá grows near mountain stream beds. It is prized as a local traditional medicinal plant by Native Americans and the local Hispanic population, but it never has achieved much popularity in the US herb industry, being sold mainly by small regional and national herb extract companies. This is probably preferable, since there is a supply sustainability issue with oshá, and it is difficult to cultivate this plant in a commercially viable manner.”

The monograph is available for purchase through AHP’s website. The monograph was made possible by the generous support of the AHPA-ERB Foundation, Herbs Etc., Vitality Works, UpS, Mountain Rose Herbs, Maryland University of Integrative Health, and Sheila and Tim Manzagol.

—Hannah Bauman

Image credits (top to bottom):

Cover of the AHP oshá root monograph and therapeutic compendium. Image courtesy of AHP.
Oshá aerial parts. Image courtesy of JerryFriedman.

References

1. Secure online ordering. American Herbal Pharmacopoeia website. Available at: www.herbal-ahp.org/order_online.htm. Accessed December 7, 2018.
2. McGuffin M, Kartesz JT, Leung AY, Tucker AO. American Herbal Products Association’s Herbs of Commerce. 2nd ed. Silver Spring, MD: American Herbal Products Association; 2000.