Abstract: 1.The purpose of this work is to clarify the ambiguity arising from the misusage and loose application of scientific names to the prevailing Chinese me- dicinal plants. 2.Three of these plants have been treated herewith,namely Jen-shen(gin- seng),Pai-shao and Fang-feng. 3.The correct name for Jen-shen is Panax schinseng Nees,while Panax ginseng C.A.Meyer,which has been so long applied to Jen-shen in various literatures,should be taken as a synonym. 4.The correct name for Pai-shao is Paeonia lactiflora Pall.,while its more popular name P.albiflora Pall.is treated as a synonym.A variety with pubes- cence on the ovary and fruit,Paeonia lactiflora var.trichocarpa,is transformed to the form catagory as P.lactiflora f.trichocarpa(Bge.)C.Y.Cheng. 5.Siler divaricatum(Turcz.)Benth.,the name which has been applied to Fang-feng since the publication of Bentham and Hooker's Genera Plantarum in 1867,is now a synonym for Ledebouriella seseloides(Hoffm.)Wolff.The plant was first described as Rumia sesdoides by Hoffman in 1814.Also a new puberu- lent variety,Ledebouriella seseloides var.puberula is described.