194 single herbs
Nature, flavour, channels entered and main actions, each herb with its own flower that shows how well you know it.
Herb & formula flashcards
Chinese herb and formula flashcards, built for active recall
Flashcards work when they make you retrieve the answer before you see it. Shen Study turns 194 Chinese herbs and 109 formulas into short quiz rounds: recall a herb's nature, flavour, channels and actions, or a formula's composition, actions, indications and tongue and pulse, then watch your herb garden grow as the answers stick.
Built as a study aid for Chinese medicine students - use alongside lectures, supervision and primary texts.
Why active recall beats rereading herb lists
Reading a materia medica monograph feels productive, but recognition is not recall. A flashcard-style question forces you to pull the property out of memory, which is what an exam question or a formula decision will ask of you.
Shen Study keeps each round short, focused on one herb or formula, and scored per petal, so you can see exactly which property you keep losing.
What you can practise
109 formulas
Composition, actions, indications and tongue and pulse, practised with the same flower and colour loop as the herbs.
A library to check against
Every herb and formula is free to browse, so you can open the full entry after a round and review what you missed.
- Guests get a few free rounds; a free account adds more and keeps your garden.
- Full Access gives unlimited herb and formula quizzes.
- A wrong answer costs progress, so colours reflect what you can recall today.
- Every herb and formula carries its pinyin, Chinese characters and English name.
A simple herb study rhythm
Short, regular rounds beat long cramming sessions, especially before herb and formula exams.
Run a round on a herb or formula before rereading your notes.
Open its library entry and review the petal you missed.
Return to weaker herbs until their colours hold.
Use a TCM case to check that the knowledge works in a prescription.
Questions students ask
Does Shen Study use spaced repetition?
Herb and formula practice uses short active-recall rounds, and a herb's colour drops when you miss it, so weaker herbs come back to your attention. It is not a scheduled spaced-repetition deck.
Can I make my own flashcards?
No. The questions are built from Shen Study's herb and formula records, so every card is checked against the same source data.
Are flashcards enough to learn Chinese herbal medicine?
No. They support memory, but formula study, case practice and supervised clinical learning are still essential.
Try a herb quiz freeTCM herbs quiz: 194 Chinese herbsTCM case study practice for clinical reasoningTCM pattern differentiation practiceAcupuncture point selection in TCM casesA Chinese Medicine study app for clinical reasoning
Related study guides
Grow your herb garden
Start with one herb, answer four petals, and see how far its colour climbs.
Try a herb quiz