RÉSUMÉ
[Objective]To provide a reference for the effects of potassium on quality formation of medicinal material. [Methods] Withpotassium,traditional Chinese medicine,growth and development,physiological characteristicsandeffective medicinal substancesas the key words, from June 2012 to March 2017 in the Pub Med, CNKI, WANFANG, VIP, the effects of potassium on the growth and development, production and quality formations, plant physiology, resistance acquirement, medicinal substances in medicinal material were systematically summarized. [Results] A total of 71 articles were retrieved, of which there were 50 valid literatures. At present, the related researches mainly focus on the relationship between potassium and growth and development, yield and quality formation, effective medicinal substances metabolism of Chinese herbs. [Conclusion] Some progresses have been made in this field. But this paper pointed out the problems in this field and put forward the directions about further research of effective medicinal substances metabolism and its mechanism, establishing multiple factor, multilevel nolinear synthesis model.