Now THAT would be frustrating! You have every right to complain.

I think the use of botanical names is extremely important, especially when the plant is going to be used for food or medicinal purposes. There are something like 600 Salvias (sages), and only a tiny fraction of them is edible. And there's only one Bay that is not poisonous, and that's Laurus nobilis.

Plant labelling is problematic in most places, I think, though things have improved in my part of the world somewhat over the years thanks to endless lobbying from gardening groups and the general public. There is still some incorrect labelling (tarragon is the main victim) and they still do things that make me grind my teeth like 'Salvia spp.' which tells me nothing, but - progress has been made.

I have no solution for you, except to mention wherever you do your shopping that because of the poor labelling, you have no choice but to send your money to another country where labelling is more informative and accurate. Like water on a stone, maybe eventually the message will get through to someone who doesn't want to make another seller or country rich! My mother used to call this tactic 'hitting them in the rear pocket where it really hurts'.

This can be a problem even in the US, especially with the catalogs. I'm afraid I've become rather an activist with them, writing to say that I'd be more likely to buy from their catalog IF they would say exactly what I was looking at -- in it's proper Latin name. I'm sure I'm not the only one doing this since the catalogs are slowing changing over.

I'm with Daisy.... cooking with the wrong herb varietal can be dangerous.