Editing 40d:Plant gathering

{{quality|Exceptional|16:49, 4 August 2011 (UTC)}}{{av}}
'''Plant gathering''' allows you to gather wild above-ground [[List of crops|plant]]s to add to your food stores.  The skill associated with plant gathering is [[Herbalism]].  Higher ranks in the skill will increase the harvest by decreasing the time required ''and'' increasing the average size of the stack found.

Plant gathering can sometimes make all the difference between surviving and starving.  However, the plants you gather may require some processing, and in a few cases (such as [[hide root]]), cannot be made into any food item.

To gather plants, at least one of your dwarves must have the "plant gathering" labor designated. Then designate one or more shrubs to be gathered by pressing {{k|d}} for 'designate', and then {{k|p}} for 'plants'. Move the cursor to one corner of the area you want to harvest, and hit  {{K|enter}}. Now move diagonally to the far corner of the area, and hit {{K|enter}} again. This will mark all harvestable shrubs in that area for picking. Alternately, you can left-click individual plants with your mouse.

Your dwarf(s) will then start going out to pick those plants. Every shrub they try may result in a single wild outdoor plant, a stack of several plants, or no plants. The shrub will disappear, regardless of the result. Once the dwarf has any success, they will return to place the plant in a general food [[stockpile]], or one that has been designated to accept that kind of plant. ''(See [[stockpile]]s for more information on customizing.)''

Choosing an area dense with shrubs (shown by " symbols.) will reduce the travel time of an unsuccessful dwarf from plant to plant.  Different plants grow in different [[biome]]s, and knowing what biomes are represented on your map, and where, can significantly influence the type of plants you find.

Since you cannot buy above-ground seeds pre-embark, Plant Gathering is also important for obtaining seeds if you plan to do outdoor farming, as the only alternative is to hope that [[caravan]]s bring some for [[trade]]. The plants gathered must first be brewed, milled or eaten to obtain seeds (if any).  Seeds are then planted in above ground [[farm plot]]s by a dwarf with the [[grower]] labor enabled, where they will grow reliably and be automatically harvested each season.

Underground shrubs (which only grow once an [[underground river]] or pool has been discovered) can be gathered just as those above ground, though they will ''always'' be successfully harvested, yielding a random underground crop.

Some plants, such as [[bloated tuber]]s and [[muck root]]s, cannot be grown and must either be gathered from shrubs or purchased from caravans.

The "plant gathering" labor is also required in order to extract [[Gnomeblight]] from [[kobold bulb]]s at a [[Still]].

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