Gathering and using herbs

Unlike skinning and mining, no special tools are required to gather herbs. While [Find Herbs] is active, herbs will appear on your Mini-Map. Once you approach one and harvest it, you will receive 1-3 herbs which can be used for other professions or sold.

As herbalism is a gathering profession like Skinning and Mining, it can potentially be useful to any class who intends to use it as a source of income by selling the herbs they gather. However, it is of particular interest to any alchemist, since herbalism gives you a good supply of ingredients for your potions.

Tauren gain a 15-point bonus to their herbalism skill from the "Cultivation" Racial trait. However, this does not allow a Tauren to harvest herbs without training the herbalism skill. A Tauren herbalist's maximum skill is 315 (325 with [Herbalist's Gloves] and Enchant Gloves - Advanced Herbalism).

Herb bags

An Herb Bag is a special type of bag that goes into one of your four bag slots. It can only carry herbs (as well as a handful of other related items), but is usually much larger than the average bag that you would normally have at that level. A 12-slot herb bag can be purchased from any herbalism supplies vendor, while the larger varieties (20- and 24-slot) must be made by a tailor.

Herbalism color codes

Mousing over and inspecting the tooltip for any herb in the game world will allow you to determine whether or not you can harvest it. The "Requires Herbalism" text will be color coded as follows:

Red: Can't be harvested.
Orange: 100% chance of increasing Herbalism skill level, often fails.
Yellow: 75% chance of increasing Herbalism skill level, never fails.
Green: <50% chance of increasing Herbalism skill level, never fails.
Gray: Never increases Herbalism skill level, never fails.

Common uses for herbs

While the majority of the herbs you will find are used by alchemists to create various potions, some will have other uses as well.

Rogues will find [Fadeleaf] useful in making [Blinding Powder] using their Poisons skill, and [Swiftthistle] useful in making [Thistle Tea]. This makes herbalism a convenient profession for a rogue, but by no means a required one.
Some herbs are used for class quests, such as [Liferoot] and [Wildvine] for Warriors, and [Earthroot] for Druids.
Certain Tailoring and Leatherworking patterns require relatively small amounts of herbs.

Harvestable herbs by skill level

Herb	Orange at:	Yellow at:	Green at:	Grey at:	Found in
[Peacebloom]	1	25	50	100	All low level zones
[Silverleaf]	1	25	50	100	All low level zones
[Earthroot]	15	40	70	115	All low level zones
[Mageroyal]	50	75	100	150	All low level zones
Briarthorn	70	95	120	170	All low level zones, especially Silverpine Forest
[Swiftthistle]					All low level zones, found on [Briarthorn] and [Mageroyal]
[Stranglekelp]	85	115	135	185	In the ocean, especially near Menethil Harbour and Zoram Strand
[Bruiseweed]	100	130	150	200	Near Houses in low-mid level zones
[Wild Steelbloom]	115	145	165	215	All low-mid level zones
[Grave Moss]	120	150	170	220	Very Rare, found only in Graveyards
[Kingsblood]	125	155	175	225	Mid level zones
[Liferoot]	150	180	200	250	Stranglethorn Vale, Wetlands and Swamp of Sorrows, near pools of water
[Fadeleaf]	160	190	210	260	Mid level zones
[Goldthorn]	170	205	220	270	Mid level zones especially Stranglethorn Vale and Arathi Highlands
[Khadgar's Whisker]	185	210	235	285	Mid level zones especially Stranglethorn Vale and Arathi Highlands and Swamp of Sorrows
[Wintersbite]	195	225	245	295	Found only in Alterac Mountain and Alterac Valley
[Firebloom]	205	235	255	--	Badlands, Tanaris,Searing Gorge, and Blasted Lands
[Purple Lotus]	210	240	260	--	Mid-High level zones especially Tanaris and Stranglethorn Vale, found near ruins
[Wildvine]	--				Found only on [Purple Lotus]
[Arthas' Tears]	220	250	< 279	--	Western Plaguelands, Eastern Plaguelands, Razorfen Downs and Felwood
[Sungrass]	230	< 252	280		High level zones especially The Hinterlands and Feralas
[Blindweed]	235	260	285		Mostly found in Swamp of Sorrows
[Ghost Mushroom]	245				The Hinterlands (in Skulk Rock), Desolace, Maraudon, Razorfen Downs and Dire Maul
[Gromsblood]	250	< 276	< 295		Felwood, Blasted Lands, Desolace and Dire Maul East
[Golden Sansam]	260	280			Mostly in Un'Goro Crater
[Dreamfoil]	270				Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, Azshara, Eastern Plaguelands and Western Plaguelands
[Mountain Silversage]	280				Mostly in Un'Goro Crater
Plaguebloom	285				Mostly in Eastern Plaguelands and Felwood
[Icecap]	290				Winterspring
[Bloodvine]					Found on Herbs in Zul'Gurub
[Black Lotus]	300				Found in Winterspring, Eastern Plaguelands, Burning Steppes and Silithus

Notes

[Swiftthistle] is occasionally found in [Briarthorn] and [Mageroyal] patches. There are no plants that contain [Swiftthistle] only.
[Wildvine], in the same manner as [Swiftthistle], is found in [Purple Lotus] patches.
[Bloodvine] is an Template:Uncommon herb can be found in [Golden Sansam] or [Dreamfoil] patches in Zul'Gurub, and only when a [Blood Scythe] is in your inventory.
[Black Lotus] (also Template:Uncommon) is extremely rare and hard to find. It requires 300 herbalism skill and is still hard to pick (will get a failed attempt now and then), the Herbalism enchant will reduce failure rates on this and other herbs.
Tauren can harvest [Earthroot] immediately after training Herbalism, since their skill will start at 16.
[Herbalist's Gloves] will give you a +5 bonus to herbalism. When combined with a +5 herbalism enchant, you can get a max skill of 310 (325 for Tauren)