To verify the name，variety，taste and efficacy of medicinal Fructus Lycii，and provide literature basis for further development and utilization of Fructus Lycii.Methods:Based on the traditional herbal literature for combing and proofreading，and with the Chinese Flora and the 2015 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China to carry out ancient and modern comparisons.Results:The name，variety，taste and efficacy of the Fructus Lycii were clearly combed.Conclusion:The production area has gradually changed from Hebei and Jiangsu to Shaanxi and Gansu，and finally formed a stable state with Ningxia as the genuine region.The ancient medicinal Fructus Lycii varieties gradually changed from Lycium chinense Mill.for the Lycium barbarum L.; the effect of the medicinal Fructus Lycii's fruit and root(Cortex Lycii)has been different since the Tang Dynasty，until the Compendium of Materia Medica has become completely clear，the efficacy of the Fructus Lycii's fruit in the 2015 edition of the Pharmacopoeia，such as “internal heat and consumptive thirst”，is the effect of the root(Cortex Lycii)in the traditional herbal literature.