Ligusticum porteri

Osha is among the most revered medicinal roots of the Greater Southwest. The Zuni applied an infusion of the root externally for body aches (antirheumatic) and used a crushed-root wash, also taken internally, for sore throat (Camazine & Bye, 1980). Across Hispanic New Mexico and northern Mexico the root, called chuchupate, is a household remedy for coughs, colds, influenza, bronchitis, and sore throat, chewed or taken as a warming decoction to promote expectoration and sweating (Moore, 1979; Curtin, 1947). Anglo and Eclectic herbalists of the Rocky Mountains adopted these uses, valuing the warming, stimulating volatile oils to open the airways. Modern phytochemistry attributes the activity to phthalides such as Z-ligustilide, butylidenephthalide, and diligustilide, which relax bronchial smooth muscle and reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-1beta) in laboratory models.