Montane, subalpine.  Woodlands, openings.  Summer.
Above: Near Kennebec Pass, August 14, 2019 and Echo Basin Road, July 10, 2019.
Left: West Mancos Trail, June 26, 2004.

Love Root is very common in the San Juans and other Four Corners mountains and often grows in dense stands covering acres under Aspens and in the full sun of meadows and mountainsides. 

A mass of large, fern-like leaves arch upward to two or three feet and are followed by three-to-six foot flower stalks.  Flower heads open to four inches across.

Being a common plant sometimes means that you will have many common names; this certainly is true of Ligusticum porteri.  It is called Loveroot, Lovage, Porter’s Lovage, Porter’s Ligusticum, Osha, Chuchupate, Licorice Root, and Wild Parsley.

Ligusticum porteri is commonly used for what many people believe are its potent medicinal properties. Some people grind and use the entire plant, some just the highly aromatic roots. See WebMD and the Alchemist's Kitchen.

"Ligusticum" is Latin, and probably means "from the Liguria region of Italy", where a related plant, Lovage, Levisticum officinale, grows in profusion and is widely used as a herb.

Thomas C. Porter, 1822-1901, was a Professor of Botany and a Colorado botanist who collected the type specimen of this lovely plant along the headwaters of the Platte in 1873.  In 1870 he and John Coulter published the first Colorado flora, the Synopsis of the Flora of Colorado.  (More biographical information about Porter.)