Herbs are one of the distinctive features of Rolemaster/MERP (in this case, I'm using MERP, informing it where necessary with RM2 and RMFRP).
Both systems have a good varied list of herbs, and rules for finding specific herbs. Neither system is particularly good at a general search for herbs.
By this I mean, if you're in Rhudaur (or northern Emer), looking for say, Elendil's Basket or Thurl, the rules are very clear. They are much less clear if you're spending 4 hours just looking around for any interesting herbs you may come across.
It's something that's always bugged me a little, but now I come back to running MERP (as a way of easing players into RM), it's bugging me again.
I'm wondering how other GMs handle it. I can see a few solutions.
(1) Don't sweat it - if the PC(s) searching make a successful roll, they find something useful. The GM will decide what they find. Old school ruling-not-rule. This is the way I've always handled it. It's easy. It leaves me a little dissatisfied, because the rules for looking for specific herbs are so... specific. And I have a tendency, as GM, to always pick the same few low-value, low-effect herbs, just because it seems so easy.
(2) Draw up a list of herbs to be found in the region. Assign probabilities based on difficulties of finding herbs. Roll on a table to see what's found. (Number of rolls based on number of doses found). Huzzah! A new table! This strikes me as being very MERP/RM. It's also work I don't particularly want to undertake.
(3) A slightly more complex variant on (2). A character's roll determines the herbs that may be found, based on their difficulty... If a character looking for herbs rolls, for example, 98 (dice + skill), they may find difficulty 1 or 2 herbs in the region, have an idea that difficulty 3 or 4 herbs are in the region (and try again), but not find difficult 5+ herbs. This strikes me as more realistic than option (2), and if I must put the legwork in, this is where I'd put it.
Any other thoughts? Is there a better way to handle it?