Have you ever really thought about the difference between an herb and a spice? In general, most herbs and spices are parts of plants. A colleague, Ann Hertzler from the Virginia Cooperative Extension, offers these definitions:
Herbs are leaves of low-growing shrubs. Examples are parsley, basil, chives, marjoram, thyme, basil, dill, oregano, rosemary and sage.
Spices come from the bark (cinnamon), root (ginger, onion, garlic), buds (cloves, saffron), seed (yellow mustard, poppy, sesame, berry (black pepper) or fruit (allspice or paprika) of tropical plants.