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Clean torstol detail
Cleaning herb

A player cleaning a grimy herb.

A Herb is an item used to make potions through the Herblore skill. There are many herbs, each of which having a "clean" and "grimy" form. Herbs must be clean to be used in potions. Players can clean grimy herbs, provided that they have the minimum required Herblore level. The required Herblore level to clean herbs varies from one type of herb to another.

When making potions, players must combine a herb with a vial of water (or coconut milk for a few high-level potions). They must then add a secondary ingredient. Some herbs can be used to make more than one type of potion.

History

Before the Herbal Remedies update on the 10 September 2007, herbs were divided into "unidentified" and "identified" instead of grimy and clean. Unidentified herbs could not be used in potions, and had to be identified (equivalent to cleaning in the current system) by a player with the requisite Herblore level.

Each type of herb, identified or not, was placed in a separate stack in the bank or inventory; for example, all unidentified ranarr weeds would be in one stack, and all unidentified tarromins would be in another. They all had the same name: "Herb" and the same icon, nonetheless by identifying one of the herbs of the stack, the player would know what the herb was in the stack.

This became a scamming issue, as player selling unidentified herbs could claim that the herbs were higher level (and therefore more valuable) than they actually were. At that time, the trade window did not give any indication at all of the value of items being traded; this was not introduced until the Trade and Drop Changes update of 10 December 2007. The "unids" as they were sometimes called were often sold at 1,000 coins, and sometimes up to 5,000 coins per herb.

The buyer could only determine which herb they were buying by identifying it themselves after they had bought it or by carrying a full inventory with one slot being filled with noted unids that they knew were of a certain type (and no other unids). This way, they could only accept the type of unids they needed. To remove this scam, Jagex replaced unidentified herbs with grimy herbs, and identified herbs with clean herbs. They also changed the herb graphics, providing a number of different shades of green and blue.

Clean versus grimy

See the herb cleaning calculator for coins-per-experience-point analysis of herb-cleaning using live data from the Grand Exchange Market Watch.

Players will normally obtain herbs as grimy (except when buying clean herbs from other players). Players can clean grimy herbs by left-clicking on them, gaining a small amount of Herblore experience points, but each type of herb has a minimum Herblore level requirement that players must have to do so. Players who do not have the required Herblore level to clean a herb can take it to Zahur, the herbalist in Nardah, who will clean it for 200 coins. Alternatively, they can use the Assist System to borrow another player's Herblore level so they can clean the herb. However, if a player's Herblore level is high enough to use the herb in potions then it is high enough to clean the herb.

Players can buy and sell both clean and grimy herbs at the Grand Exchange. The graphical differences between them are fairly small. Against the inventory background, the herbs are somewhat more grey and there is a small shape change.

Grimy herbs were worth more on the Grand Exchange than clean herbs for a long while, especially lower-level herbs, although this seems to have changed. Players who are trying to grow them for money should check both grimy and clean prices if they have a high enough Herblore level to clean them.

Farming Herbs

Herbs yield an average of 6.8 leaves per plot with optimum tools.

The following are the results of a study planting 728 seeds in 5 herb patches (including the disease-free patch at the Troll Stronghold) and using Supercompost and Magic Secateurs:

Yield: 0 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 >14
Number of patches: 77 86 120 149 125 66 44 22 19 13 2 5

The average yield, including the dead patches (0 yield), was 6.8 herbs. The average yield of patches that grew to harvest was 8.2 herbs. The minimum and maximum yield of patches that grew to harvest was 5 leaves and 23 leaves, respectively.

In a similar separate study, a level 80 Farmer planting 100 toadflax seeds using supercompost and magical secateurs, checking plots every two hours, yielded significantly less "0" outcomes (1.8% vs the above chart's 10.15%) and significantly lower 7+ yields (49.09% vs this chart's astounding 61.37%). However, the overall average yield, the most important number for those that are looking for final output, was exactly the same: 6.8 leaves per plot.

Some explanations for the disparity in the two studies can be that the level needed to plant a seed may affect growth success in the same way players of various cooking levels burn less of low level fishes than of higher ones. As for the higher fail rate (dead patches) in the above study may be caused by less frequent checks of plots.

Using either study, however, a few tips can be harvested:

  • Other RuneScape reference sources (and anecdotal player claims) declare yields as high as 7.5 leaves per plot which, clearly, would be a temporary string of good luck - the chance that a crop run of five plots yielding even 7 leaves per plot would be 8.7%; and to obtain an average of 7 for the entire above study would be 2.8968E-130% (or a 3 behind a decimal and 129 zeros).
  • A fail rate (a dead patch) of 10% or less makes getting a Scroll of life from Daemonheim - which recovers 10% of seeds from harvested plants, dead or alive - an excellent insurance for seed investment. (In the toadflax study, exactly 10 seeds were recovered from 100 plantings).
  • Death can be prevented by checking every cycle and not planting seeds before a long logout (like overnight), however this is extremely impractical.
  • For example, if a player knows that a ranarr seed sells for 976 gp and the leaves sell for 2,108 gp, the expected profit would be 6.8 X 2,108 - 976 = 13358.4 gp per seed.
  • For Herblore training, if a player, say, needs 50,000 xp to get to the next level, and prayer potions give 87.5 xp, the player would need 84 ranarr seeds to grow enough to attain the next level and would need to make 84/5 = 17 crop runs to accomplish it.

Herb table

File:Herb patch detail.png

Herbs in a farming patch

Normal herbs

Herblore Level Herb Grimy Clean Herblore Clean XP Coins 1000 Profit
Icon Coins 1000 Price Icon Coins 1000 Price
1 Guam Grimy guam 709 Clean guam 738 2.5 29
5 Tarromin Grimy tarromin 105 Clean tarromin 127 3.8 22
9 Marrentill Grimy marrentill 2,307 Clean marrentill 2,516 5 209
20 Harralander Grimy harralander 741 Clean harralander 938 6.3 197
25 Ranarr Grimy ranarr 1,860 Clean ranarr 2,108 7.5 248
30 Toadflax Grimy toadflax 11,250 Clean toadflax 11,699 8 449
35 Spirit weed Grimy spirit weed 16,575 Clean spirit weed 17,285 7.8 710
40 Irit Grimy irit 5,008 Clean irit 5,305 8.8 297
41 Wergali Grimy wergali 2,701 Clean wergali 2,593 9.5 −108
48 Avantoe Grimy avantoe 1,043 Clean avantoe 1,151 10 108
54 Kwuarm Grimy kwuarm 11,782 Clean kwuarm 11,981 11.3 199
59 Snapdragon Grimy snapdragon 1,789 Clean snapdragon 1,979 11.8 190
65 Cadantine Grimy cadantine 4,322 Clean cadantine 4,724 12.5 402
67 Lantadyme Grimy lantadyme 7,551 Clean lantadyme 8,002 13.1 451
70 Dwarf weed Grimy dwarf weed 8,476 Clean dwarf weed 8,810 13.8 334
75 Torstol Grimy torstol 5,389 Clean torstol 5,548 15 159
91 Fellstalk Grimy fellstalk 6,860 Clean fellstalk 7,166 16.8 306

Goutweed is a rare herb that plays a role in the Dream Mentor and Eadgar's Ruse quests. Sanfew will exchange them for other random herbs at a 1:1 ratio. It requires 29 Farming to plant in a herb patch.

Jungle Potion herbs

Some herbs can only be cleaned after a player starts the Jungle Potion quest. They are not tradeable.

Herb Grimy Clean Level Clean XP
Ardrigal Grimy ardrigal Clean ardrigal 3 2.5
Rogue's purse Grimy rogue's purse Clean rogue's purse 3 2.5
Sito foil Grimy sito foil Clean sito foil 3 2.5
Snake weed Grimy snake weed Clean snake weed 3 2.5
Volencia moss Grimy volencia moss Clean volencia moss 3 2.5

Dungeoneering herbs

These herbs are only found in Daemonheim while training Dungeoneering. They are tradeable inside dungeons but cannot be found anywhere outside Daemonheim.

Herb Grimy Clean Level Clean XP
Sagewort Grimy sagewort Clean sagewort 3 2.1
Valerian Grimy valerian Clean valerian 4 3.2
Aloe Grimy aloe Clean aloe 8 4
Wormwood leaf Grimy wormwood leaf Clean wormwood leaf 34 7.2
Magebane Grimy magebane Clean magebane 37 7.7
Featherfoil Grimy featherfoil Clean featherfoil 41 8.6
Winter's grip Grimy winter's grip Clean winter's grip 67 12.7
Lycopus Grimy lycopus Clean lycopus 71 13.1
Buckthorn Grimy buckthorn Clean buckthorn 74 13.8

Herblore Habitat Herbs

These herbs are only able to be grown at Herblore Habitat. They are not tradeable.

Herb Grimy Clean Level Clean XP
Erzille Grimy erzille Clean erzille 54 10
Ugune Grimy ugune Clean ugune 56 11.5
Argway Grimy argway Clean argway 57 11.6
Shengo Grimy shengo Clean shengo 58 11.7
Samaden Grimy samaden Clean samaden 59 11.7

Obtaining herbs

Players can obtain grimy herbs via several methods, perhaps most notably by growing seeds via the Farming skill and as drops from monsters. They may also receive herbs from the Sorceress's Garden minigame, from their kingdom on Miscellania and Etceteria, from the sinister chest, or as a reward from the Pest Control and Temple Trekking minigames.

As drops

Grimy herbs are available as drops from various monsters, including very low-level opponents such as men in Lumbridge. Some monsters drop more herbs than others. No monsters except the Tree spirit and Prison Pete random events will drop toadflax, snapdragon or torstol; these herbs are obtained from either the Brimhaven agility arena (toadflax and snapdragon), or the herb chest in the Yanille Agility dungeon. Looting a nature impling jar may give the player a clean snapdragon. Using a macaw familiar will significantly improve the quality of herb drops from monsters.

From the sinister chest

Players can also kill Salarin the Twisted for the Sinister Key, which opens the sinister chest. Players will receive two harralanders, three ranarr weeds, one irit leaf, one kwuarm, and one torstol. Both Salarin the Twisted and the Sinister chest are found in the Yanille Agility dungeon, and players need an Agility level of 67 to reach him. He and the Magpie Impling are currently the only non-player characters that drop the Sinister Key.

Salarin the Twisted can only be injured by one of the four elemental strike spells: Wind Strike, Water Strike, Earth Strike, or Fire Strike. Chaos druids and Chaos Druid Warriors are also found in this area.

Via Farming

Players can also grow their own herbs from seeds via the Farming skill. They need to obtain the correct seeds for the type of herb they wish to grow, and plant them in a herb patch. At high Farming levels this can be a very effective method of obtaining experience in both the Herblore and Farming skills.

The herb patch used during My Arm's Big Adventure can be useful, as herbs grown in it cannot become diseased.

From the Miscellania kingdom

Players who have completed the Throne of Miscellania quest can receive grimy herbs from Miscellania (see Managing Miscellania). Players pay an average of 800 coins per herb collected using this method, and receive up to 80 grimy herbs per day, all tarromin or above, if they have enough money in the coffers and have herb-gathering set to maximum.

From Sorceress's Garden

Player can obtain herbs from the Sorceress's Garden minigame, in which players work their way through a maze to reach a herb patch. Having reached the end, players can pick two random herbs before being teleported back to the beginning of the maze. This takes approximately 50 seconds. It was often crowded with bots because of the easy access and high profit of this minigame.

The lowest garden (Winter) can only yield herbs up to harralanders. The highest garden (Summer) can yield all herbs given normally as a drop besides Snapdragon and Torstol.

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