Most of the plants used by Taiwan's herbalists come from mainland China. This makes both the supply and the quality unstable because the same plant grown in different regions, or under different weather and climatic conditions, will produce different medicinal effects.
目前台灣的中草藥大多來自大陸，不僅貨源無法掌控，隨著不同產地、氣候採收時節，即使同一種藥材的成分也功效不盡相同。以人工生物科技來培養中藥材，是台灣發展中草藥生物科技的可行之路。