Use of fresh herbs is a feature and special form of Chinese herbal medicine

and has been forming throughout the whole history of traditional Chinese medicine from the beginning. The major differences between fresh and dried herbal medicines are that fresh herbal medicines of cold and cool nature are cooler and more moisturing than dried ones; fresh herbal medicines of acrid aromatic nature have thicker flavor and stronger efficacy; the herbal juice is fresh and pure

and has better function of moistening dryness compared to dried ones. Through summarizing the clinical application of fresh herbal medicines and the research and development condition of related preparations

it has been found that the concepts of fresh and dried herbal medicines are confused

and there is lack of standard system and theoretical guidance when applying fresh herbal medicines. Therefore

it is suggested to develop related theory and standard systems for application guidance

establish a supply chain

and make innovations on preservation technologies for fresh herbal medicines

thereby bringing forth new ideas for its progress mode and promoting its scale and long-term development.