Okay, quick question and answer?
Have 2nd faction (magic) and all 2nd level techs on VV3, but still no new herb, please help.
And does having an alchemist do anything beneficial to the villagers other than creating potions? (Only reason I ask is because of whats in the cave...)

You are probably just not looking in the right place. You can see a map of the herb locations here. As for the alchemy, you should experiment with the potions and see.

Well i did find the grapes, TY VM LadyCFII, but what good does it do to make the potions if you can't create an alchemist ya know? I am just going off of the info from the little cave scenario, and it seems weird is all. Thanks for the reply

Any adult villager can do alchemy, and you can get kids to gather the herbs.