Herbal medicine should not be considered only as something that people take or drink only when the fall sick. Herbs in most cases are just common food substances that are consumed daily. And there are herbs that may be common to all cultures. Take for example tea Though it can be considered as a herbal medicine for some aliments, tea is consumed by everyone daily throughout the world. And everyone can make tea.
And similarly herbal tea (but not from the ordinary tea leaves) can be made from other plant leaves, flowers, stems, seeds, etc. to treat an ailment. One can get the prescription from the herbalist who usually has a shop displaying and selling the herbal medicinal products. He is the herbal physician and genuine herbalists are very knowledgeable about plant effects and potency. If one tries to make a herbal tea from plants without full knowledge, he may be mixing substances of conflict effects. 
Herbal tincture is another type of herbal medicine preparation. But this preparation, unlike tea-type, needs some technical knowledge. The solution is made by mixing the herbal plant with alcohol in order to extract the potent substance. And of course, the amount and concentration of alcohol will have some effects about the therapeutic substance and also on the produced concoction. For such preparation only a herbalist or a chemist should do it. It can be a little serous because of the amount of alcohol. And of course, pious Muslims will not accept it because of its intoxicating substance. Beside the fluid medicines produced out of herbs, there is also liquid or fluid herbal-based medicines. They are usually stronger depending on the concentration of substances in them. Solid extracts of herbal are simply herbs that have been dried to protect the living substance from decay and in order to preserve the extract potency. So when they are to be used, these dried plants or extracts have to be dissolved to get the potent remedying substance.
Another type of herbal medicine is the poultices. Theses herbs are grounded and made into paste or sometimes mixed with water. Most often they are used to treat wounds and injuries such as bruises.
And there are the herbal ointments. They are herbal plants with some therapeutic effects that are extracted and mixed with oils most often vegetable oils of different kinds especially in the middles east olive oil. In fact, there are oils which are themselves extracted from herbal plants. These so called essential oils are volatile and aromatic compounds. In traditional healing aroma is thought of having remedial effects and that is why some herbal medicine is given fragrant scents.References :
naturalhealthblog.(No date).Different Types Of Herbal Medicine.[Online]. Avaliable: http://naturalhealthblog.savvy-cafe.com/different-types-of-herbal-medicine-2007-10-13/ [2011,Aprill].
