Foraging

The scholar Qakara-Iby and other teachers demonstrated the skill of Foraging herbs near the Pharaoh's Bay School of Worship on Akhet III-25 in a Herbalism Event. Thanks to the donations of those who learned the skill at that time, it is now publicly available at Schools of Worship. (Tuition: 250 Thorns)

Clicking on a rare herb will give its name as "some kind of herb". If you have the foraging skill, you also have a menu "Foraging...". If you harvest the herb correctly you'll get 1-7 herbs in your inventory and the plant will disappear.

I had a couple of times when e plant was a foraging herb at first, and after i found the foraging method i clicked on it and it became a normal plant, example: i found a herb, identified it as jaivanti, and when i returned it turned into non forageble coleus. - yazza

Identification

There are four main categories of plants, and several subcategories. It should be quite obvious which category your herb fits into, without video card settings/lighting having much of an effect. Please keep that in mind when sorting herbs.

You can also use the Herb Database to look up information on herbs. (4/3/06 getting a blank page on this link - Latona)

In case the above link doesn't work, another site has been up at http://atitd.messiah.ath.cx/herb --Wuq

• SingleStem (trees; this includes those with a main stem and several branching stems)
• Bulbs (plants with a big root ball at the bottom, from which any leaves or stems emerge)
• MultipleStem (foliage; this includes grasses with feathery bits on top, and stems topped by small flowers rather than by leaves)
  • SingleLeafGreen Single Leaf more than 50% green-to-bluegreen
  • SingleLeafColor Single Leaf less than 50% green-to-bluegreen
  • MultiLeaf Ferns (For ferns with bulbs, see Bulbs section)
• NoStem *only* stems or *only* leaves
• ForagingTechniques If you already know the name and just cannot remember which method to use, this chart has names and techniques, along with Chichis stats.

• Leaf Grouping An alternate Identification system based on leaf groupings and leaf shapes.

• Recognize the herb, but can't quite name it? Can name it, but don't remember the method of harvesting? Try the Common Herb Reference guide!

• An interesting challenge is to try to identify and harvest herbs before you've finished running up to them.

Blue vs. Green Leaves
If you aren't sure whether a single-leaf, multiple-stem plant qualifies as green, list it in both places with a note that you have done so. Bluish-green is now considered green, in order to avoid people running afoul of monitor differences or differing judgements about what qualifies.

Colored Leaves
Color refers to Red/Pink, Orange, Yellow/Gold, Blue, Purple/Violet and White. When attempting to determine color, judge only by the top surface of the leaves. This means something with leaves which are green on top and red underneath is considered green. It also means something with green stalks and little pink flowers is not green.

Submitting JPGs
To assist with identification of herbs, can I request that people (re)submit pictures of identified herbs if they are able to get a clearer screenshot than a previous one. Also please turn off time of day lighting, adjust light intensiity to max and place 1 straw beside plant as a measurement of scale. This way we should get standard screenshots that everyone finds easy to use. - (Zintwana) Also, please crop pictures to 280-width before uploading, to keep the pages easily organized and viewable. Thanks - Tesa

Harvesting

There are twelve different ways to harvest the herbs:

• Cut away the outer stem
• Harvest the Root pith
• Trim the Root fibres
• Snip the leaf stems
• Peel back the stem base
• Scrape off the stem pith
• Remove the Tap Root
• Pick out the seeds
• Crush the stems
• Pluck the leaves
• Squeeze out the sap
• Scrape away the leaf hairs

Herb Tracking

Herbdar

Herb Spawning

I have been running around for the last 4-5 days and collected some 45-50 different herbs. I am trying to understand what governs which herbs are found where. I have found any herb, in any location. I cant say that for definite, some herbs only grow on grass, or near water etc. However I definitely feel that night time is the best time to look for herbs.
As to herb locations, my theory is this: Herbs are not like mushrooms. Different herbs do not have different spawning patterns. Instead what happens is each herb has a "to spawn" percentage.. say 10%. Then you have an "herb patch", which consists of a centre, where spawning probability is 100% and which decreases as you move away from the centre. The patches move, but not by much. I noticed a patch which moved maybe 20 clicks per day. Some others may move more.. I don't know. But the "patch" spawns random herbs, based on the herbs, "to spawn" percentage.
For example: Let's say we have from 1-1000, and if Basil occupies the 1-100 range, every time the dice hits anywhere from 1 to 100, a basil is spawned.
To sum it up, I believe the process is as follows: At a particular location, it is decided whether an herb will spawn based on the locations distance from a "spawn loci" or patch -- probably an inverse square law. Then once it's decided that an herb will spawn, a dice is thrown which decides on which herb will spawn at that location. If this theory is correct then the herbdar doesnt really need to record what herb was spawned, just where it was spawned, so we can determine herb patch movements. I have noticed many things to support this theory, and nothing to oppose it. By the way, i think there are many patches, not just one!!

Tilapya adds: We have 5 spots that regularly spawn herbs in close proximity, in our camp. I've noticed a small, dark spot on the ground near each one. Might these mark spawning points?

Alis adds: At least some herb spots spawn during daylight. I don't know if the spawn time is a) cyclic b) based on herb type or c) based on spawn spot. I've noticed that the amount I harvest of an herb may be related to how long it has existed without being picked. This is circumstantial evidence though -- if the amount is based on the herb type, then the shorter existance time could be entirely coincidental.

Akrian adds: I got 1 harvest from an herb growing for like half hour only, so i guess amount is based on how long it have been growing

Knives adds: I usually get 6 or 7 per harvest when I'm foraging in the deep wilderness, and 1-3 when I forage near a populated area. That fits with Alis and Akrian's theory, since herbs would likely get harvested quickly in populated areas. Or it could mean herbs are 'shy,' but somehow I doubt it.

Panya adds: I've had several herbs spawn and despawn as I watched. In every case where I picked the herb as soon as it spawned, I harvested exactly one deben. The times I was able to restrain myself and let the herb develop a bit, the amount of herb harvested rose with the time I allowed it to sit. Although I need to test this more, it appears that roughly 30-45 minutes (RL) will add 1 more to the harvest. Please keep in mind that this is with _very_ shoddy recordkeeping (and impatience- I find it very hard to not pick it when I've found it!). It further appears that the herb will sit at 7 deben for a few hours before despawning.

I harvested a Pale Dhamasa within 30 seconds of it spawning as I was standing within 2 coordinates of where it spawned, and it gave 5 debens. I know it was new because three witnesses saw it appear, and it was in my camp. - Chichis (other witnesses: FaceAnkh, Chisisi)

Toba adds: I once found 2 different herbs in the same oasis at the same time. I harvested one of them (6 Crimson lettuce) and the other herb disappeared. I believe it was some form of basil. If you find 2 herbs in one oasis, I would suggest you identify both before attempting to harvest them. Then pick the one you want most of all. Just in case.

Notes

There is an attempt to create a standard set of pictures at Foraging successful img

There is an effort to create individual pages for Herbs. More useful for the cook than the forager, but even so, faster loading than the identification-oriented pages.

You can see Lavacat's personal results at Herbs

On one of the Cooking pages, someone mentions results of adding Sassafras to a meal, but Sassafras doesn't appear anywhere in Foraging. Does anyone know anything more about Sassafras?
Sassafras was a spice available from the Malaki event. No other known source exists, and it is not an herb.

More herbs mentioned in the forums, but unknown here:
Malice Weed (mentioned in a forum posting)
Does anyone have a pic, harvest method, or any other information about these? It was found and identified a while ago - should be in the identification pages. -Deohotep

File Attachments

Note: Please resize the pic to 280 width, before uploading. Also, please turn off time of day lighting, adjust light intensiity to max and place 1 straw beside plant as a measurement of scale.