TRIGONELLA, FENUGREEK; a genus of the
decandria order, belonging to the diadelphia class of Trigonellae plants. There are 10 species; of which the most remarkable is the fenum graecum, or common fenugreek, whose seeds are used in medicine. Where this plant grows naturally is uncertain; but it is cultivated in the fields in the south of France, and in Germany, from whence great quantities of the seeds are annually imported here for use. It is also much cultivated in India. It is an annual plant, which rises with a hollow, branching, herbaceous stalk a foot and a half high, garnished with trifoliate leaves, placed alternately, whose lobes are oblong, oval, indented on their edges, and have broad furrowed footstalks. The flowers come out singly at each joint from the wings of the stalk; they are white, of the butterfly kind, and sit very close to the stalk; these are succeeded by long compressed pods, shaped somewhat like a broad sword, ending in long points, having a broad membrane on one edge, filled with square yellow seeds, indented on one side like a kidney. The whole plant has a very strong odour.
The chief use of fenugreek seeds is as an ingredient in cataplasms, fomentations, emollient glysters, and in powders for horses, &c.