The paper reviews the recent developments in germplasm, identification, ecological factors and cultivation of bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae. During past years, new methods for identification such as mass spectrometry (MS), polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and DNA chips have been invented and identification works became easier. The relationship between ecological factors such as climate, soil, community types and the quality of bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae has been revealed, thus a new cultivation model "semi-wild cultivation" have been developed and it is beneficial to material conservation. The present problems and the future research direction on bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae were also discussed.