Abstract: OBJECTIVE To provide a reference for the in-depth research and development of She medicine from compositae plants(hereinafter referred to as "compositae She medicine") by analyze its variety characteristics and research status. METHODS Through systematic review of Dictionary of Chinese Ethnic Medicine and related literature retrieval, the variety characteristics and research status of compositae She medicine were systematically combed from the perspectives of medicinal parts, multi-ethnic cross use, traditional efficacy, research progress of chemical composition and pharmacological activity, quality control standards, etc. RESULTS Compositae She medicine was the most numerous She medicine category, which mainly used whole herbs as medicinal parts and had the most cross-use with Tujia medicine. It was mainly used to treat skin diseases(such as skin pruritus, sore boils, malignant boil, rotten feet, etc.) and exogenous diseases. However, there were still remain some problems in compositae She medicine development, such as botanical origin ambiguity, insufficient studies on chemical composition and pharmacological activity and low-level standards of quality control. CONCLUSION Compositae She medicine has high clinical application value, whereas its research level is still relatively low. In future, the variety arrangement of botanical origin, analysis of therapeutic material basis, and construction of quality control standards reflecting the characteristics of She medicine should be further strengthened.