Through consulting the ancient herbs and medical books, combining with modern literature, this paper makes textual research on herbal medicine, and textual research on the name, origin, position and harvest and processing changes of the medicinal herbs in ancient classical prescriptions. According to research, Cinnamon medicinal materials were first listed in the Shennong's Herbal Classic, as the name of "Jungui" and "Mugui". Among them, Jungui has undergone the evolution of "Qungui-Jungui-Tonggui-Jungui". After the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a half-volume fatty "Gui" was added, but the usage of the three was no different. The names of Cinnamomi Ramulus and Cinnamomi Cortex did not appear until the Tang Dynasty, and they were preferably thick-skinned and with no cork cambium, and they were mostly used in the name of "Guixin"; Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the medicinal parts of cassia have gradually separated. Cinnamomi Cortex is the trunk bark of sapling or branch bark, the twig is Cinnamomi Ramulus, and the tenderest twig is Liugui, Song Dynasty unified the name as "Guizhi"; After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Cinnamomi Cortex was used as the trunk bark, and Cinnamomi Ramulus was used as the tender twig; In modern times, the Chinese Pharmacopoeia stipulates that the Cinnamomi Ramulus is the young branch of C. cassia, which is Cinnamomum, and Cinnamomi Cortex was the dried trunk bark. From the plant morphology recorded in the previous herbals and the drawings, combined with the distribution of the origins described in the previous herbals, the mainstream plant used as a medicine in the past generations should be C. cassia, but there are other sect. Cinnamomum plants that are also used in medicine everywhere, such as C. chekiangensis, C. bejolghota, C. wilsonii, etc. Throughout the ages, different plant morphologies and medicinal traits have been used to distinguish different categories. The origins of the past dynasties are mostly present in Guangdong, Guangxi province and Vietnam, and are regarded as authentic. The methods for the harvest and processing of cinnamon medicinal materials are basically the same from ancient to modern times.
Keywords: Chinese classical prescriptions; Cinnamomi Cortex; Cinnamomi Ramulus; textual research on materia medica.