Herb

Herb was a broad term for a variety of plants used for medicinal purposes, crafting drugs and potions, seasoning and garnishing food, providing aromas to food or fragrances, and a variety of other purposes.

Herbs were often dried, ground up into a powder, and tightly packed in order to preserve them. Some felt that herbs were best used when fresh, though their effectiveness often wasn't hindered by it. The spells freshen and curdle were two magical means by which people altered the freshness of herbs. A herbalism kit was typically used to identify herbs and turn them into medicine.

Medical practice throughout Faerûn was dominated by herbalism. Firbolgs, alchemists, magic-users, rangers, and shamans were often skilled in plant lore regarding how to preserve medicinal herbs and craft medicines from them. It was relatively rare for sages to be knowledgeable of herbal lore, unless they were part of a Guild of Naturalists, like that of Cormyr. Some witches became specialized in the art of medicinal herbs, becoming known as bubudow.

Unlike spices, caravans carrying herbs were only lightly guarded, as most monsters and humanoid tribes had little interest in stealing them.

Availability
Some professional healers bought their herbs, while others cultivated herb gardens to save currency and maintain a steady supply.

Apothecaries often sold raw and prepared herbs for medicinal and culinary purposes.

Cultivated

 * Bhamm's Herbs
 * Herb gardens were common all throughout Cormanthyr.
 * Hanno's Herbs and Medicines, an apothecary in the city of Wheloon.
 * Helmick's Herbs and Oddments
 * Javuhansa was considered a great source of imported herbs in Kara-Tur.
 * A number of temples in the Realms were known to cultivate and/or sell herbs. Some of these included the Bounty of the Goddess, House of Morning, and Song of the Morning.
 * Old Angrath's Smokehouse
 * Herb were some of the common crops cultivated in Saradush.
 * Phalantar's Philtres & Components in Waterdeep.
 * In Ravens Bluff one could find herbs for sale at the Leaf in Root and Morigan's Complete Components.
 * Shen's Herb Garden
 * Tatha's Broomworks
 * The people of Ulgoth's Beard had herb gardens atop their houses.

Wild

 * Herbs could be found in the jungles throughout Chu' Yuan.
 * The wildernesses of the Dalelands, Cormyr, and Sembia were all very abundant in herbs.
 * Savory herbs could be found on the steppes of Thar.
 * Quang Muku Forest

Varieties
Herbs used throughout Toril included the following:
 * Alarvaun
 * Bay leaf
 * Belladonna, otherwise known as wolfsbane
 * Beorunna's cure-all
 * Bloodpurge
 * Bloodstaunch
 * Blueglow moss
 * Cassil, a shrub that was used as a form of herbal birth control.
 * Charchuka
 * Dathlil petals
 * Drace
 * Feverbalm
 * Fleshwort
 * Felsul bark
 * Garlic vine
 * Ghostroot
 * Harlthorn bush horns
 * Heliotrope
 * Henna, a Zakharan herb that was used to produce a widely used orange-red dye.
 * Jalap
 * Juniper berry
 * Mallow
 * Mordayn
 * Mother's leaf
 * Nararoot
 * Nychaki
 * Sage
 * Sandberry bush
 * Sindari
 * Silverbark sap
 * Spellbane
 * Spellshield
 * Tatterskye
 * Thelmallow
 * Tonandurr
 * Trueroot
 * Woundwort
 * Wyndor's herbs
 * Yarberry

History
The continual refinement of herbal treatment over time led to plagues becoming far less common in the Realms.

Prices
Prices varied between each type of herb, with one of many factors being whether they were local or exotic. However, in the bazaars of Zakhara the native spices could generally be bought for around 4 to 7 cp per.

Usages of Herbs

 * Some varieties of herbs could be used to purify water.
 * Herbs could be used to make insect repellent.
 * Herbs were sometimes mixed together into a type of cooking oil.
 * Herbs were stuffed in perfume bags called satchets to provide clothing an aroma.
 * Herbs could be used to make tea in place of tea leaves.
 * Herbs were placed in tubs of water to make herbal baths, a service offered by many festhalls and herbalists throughout the Realms.
 * Enchantment of an item with healing or necromantic effects sometimes involved an ointment composed of herbs harvested with silver weapons or a weapon consecrated to that item's creator deity under certain conditions.
 * Herbs were a material component of the spells hallow, unhallow, and attract ghoul. Bitter herbs were a component of the Zakharan spell jungle avatar.

Groups

 * Mystics in the Realms were capable of using their knowledge of herbs to manufacture magically enchanted candles.

Nations

 * In the nation of Tethyr, herbs were one of many goods that people commonly bartered with.

Races

 * Araneas, when in their human disguise, would trade herbs at settlements.
 * Elven cuisine often involved frying or steaming vegetables with herbs.
 * Grungs used herbs to craft tonics that were part of the process of changing their skin color.
 * Halflings did not favored mixture of herbs over strong spices when it came to seasoning their traditional sausages, cheeses, stews, and baked goods.
 * Herbs were involved in the process of embalming of greater and standard mummies.
 * The unique stew that was a staple of the shan sao diet involved a mixture of herbs and spices.
 * Tabaxi were known to use aromatic herbs disguise their scent.
 * Weretigers who lived in cabins near human settlements often had herb gardens.
 * Rare herbs were sometimes involved in the complex transformation rituals of yuan-ti and they encouraged their cults to gather them. They would mix these herbs with certain roots and their own venom to make distillations that could transform humans into histachii.

Religions

 * The clergy of the Church of Ilmater were initiated in the art of herbalism and they frequently gathered medicinal herbs.
 * The Seekers of Scales cult used a mixture of drugs and herbs to achieve a mental state in which they communed with the dragons they worshiped.
 * Poisonous herbs were a favored plant of the goddess Talona.