What are herbs and spices botanically?
• two good text sources of information on economic botany to use: Levetin & McMahon (1999) and Simpson & Ogorzaly (2001) and a lab manual • From a botanical perspective, an herb is a non-woody plant. “there is a tendency to associate herbs with leafy plant parts. The word spice, in contrast has no botanical definition. Instead, it is loosely applied to an assortment of dried barks, roots, seeds, fruits, and flower parts used for their scents and flavors” (Simpson & Ogorzaly, 2001). • Herbs: any plant used as a medicine, seasoning, or flavoring: mint, thyme, basil, and sage are herbs (Websters New World Dictionary). Herbs tend to come from leaves of the plant (although there are exceptions) and originate primarily from temperate regions of the world (Simpson & Ogorzaly, 2001). • Spices: any of several vegetable substances, as clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, etc., used to season food: spices are usually dried for use and have distinctive flavors and aromas (Websters New World Dictionary
