• Herbal training programs may offer degrees or certificates for certification.honors graduate image by Leticia Wilson from Fotolia.com
  
  There are a variety of options for online herbology training. Most of the online programs provide either certificate or undergraduate degrees, although there are a couple of graduate and post-graduate offerings. State requirements for herbalists vary from state to state. In states where a license is necessary to practice as an herbalist, online degrees may not be accepted for licensure education requirements.
  
  

Australasian College of Natural Therapies

• Australasian College of Natural Therapies offers an advanced diploma in Western Herbal Medicine. The program takes 78 weeks of full-time study. Online study is only available to Australian students. All other students must attend their residential program.
  
  

International College of Herbal Medicine

• The International College of Herbal Medicine in New Zealand offers introductory, clinical and post-graduate online programs. Courses can be taken individually or students can enroll in a degree program. The post-graduate program is available only to qualified natural health practitioners and health professionals. Their plant profile online resource is available free to students and Internet visitors.
  
  

Southwest School of Botanical Medicine

• The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine offers distance learning programs created by Michael Moore. Their two distance learning programs include a residency segment. The two programs include one on clinical and constitutional herbs and the other focuses on the herbal materia medica. Their home campus is located in Tucson, Arizona.
  
  

Certificate Programs in Herbology

• The California School of Traditional Hispanic Herbalism began offering online classes in April, 1998. Students receive weekly lecture packets. Classes are offered throughout the year. Those who complete the course may request a certificate but no diploma is awarded.
  
  The School of Natural Healing offers certificate and master herbalist training. The three-month family herbalist certificate course is a prerequisite for all other courses. Their master herbalist course is a three-year program beyond the introductory certificate. The primary mode of training is home study correspondence coupled with staff counseling and a six-day residential intensive prior to program completion.
  
  Global College of Natural Medicine offers a home study certificate program in herbology. A master herbalist certificate is awarded when the one-year training is complete. Coursework includes herbal medicine history, nutrition, herbal research and preparation, health conditions and therapies, herbal terminology and case studies. This certificate program can be applied to their holistic health practitioner degree program, with 80 percent of the tuition directly applied to the total tuition cost of the degree education.