Coal palaeobotany, as a frontier science between palaeobotany and coal petrology,has long been focused for attention by coal geologists and palaeobotanists. The main field of coal palaeobotany includes coal-forming plants and peat vegetations related to coal genesis as well as the potential relationship between coal-forming plant and coal quality. Based on the analyses of literature contributed to the branch science in past fifty years, a brief review on its engendered background,research status and approaching development tendency is given in this paper, and points out that coal palaeobotany,although vast prospects for use, is in primary development stage as yet,owing to restrictive of study methods and techniques.