OSHÁ
LIGUSTICUM PORTERI
Parsley Family, Apiaceae
Perennial herb
Thick stands of this robust plant with 20–60-inch-tall, branching stems cover open forests and mountain meadows. The arching, 1–2-foot-long frond-like leaves are divided into numerous parsley-like segments, and the umbrella-shaped flower stalks are tipped with clusters of tiny white flowers. Note the flowering cluster (umbel) does not have tiny leaf-like bracts at the base. The roots are still prized by Native Americans and curanderas for their medicinal properties.
FLOWERS: June–August. Clusters (umbels) with numerous umbrella-like rays, each topped with a small terminal umbel of tiny, white flowers; each flower 3/16 inch (2–5 mm) wide with 5 white, fan-shaped petals. The primary umbel has leaf-like bracts at the base, but the small flowering umbel at the tip of each ray does not. Fruit is a cluster of oblong, ribbed capsules 3/16–3/8 inch (5–8 mm) long, maturing reddish.
LEAVES: Basal and alternate on stems. Basal leaves with 3 1/2–12 1/2 inch long (9–32 cm) stems (petioles). Blades compound, oval in outline, 3 1/2–12 inches (9–30 cm) long, leaflets deeply dissected into lance-shaped, parsley-like segments; upper leaves grow from dilated sheaths around stem. Note the lateral veins of the leaflets end at the tips, not in the notches.
HABITAT: Rich, moist soils of open forests, meadows; pine-oak to spruce-fir forests.
ELEVATION: 7,000–11,500 feet.
RANGE: AZ, CO, ID, NM, NV, UT, WY.
SIMILAR SPECIES: Two related deadly poison species also occur in moist soils: Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum, has purple-splotched stems, and the small flowering umbel at the tip of each ray has tiny, leaf-like bracts at the base. Water Hemlock, Cicuta maculata, has undivided leaflets with toothed margins. The flowers of Rocky Mountain Hemlock Parsley, Conioselinum scopulorum, have long, slender bractlets beneath the terminal umbels.
NM COUNTIES: Mountains throughout NM in mid- to high-elevation moist habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Doña Ana, Grant, Lincoln, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union.
