Trigonella

Trigonella 

a genus of plants of the family Leguminosae. The plants are annual, or less commonly, perennial herbs; some are subshrubs. The leaves are pinnately three-foliate and usually denticulate. The flowers, which are generally yellow, form umbellate or capitate axillary racemes. Sometimes they are solitary or in twos in the axils. The fruit is a one- or many-seeded pod.

There are approximately 130 species of Trigonella, distributed in the temperate regions of Eurasia, mainly Asia Minor, Southwest Asia, Middle Asia, and the Caucasus, and in Africa and Australia. More than 50 species are found in the USSR, growing on dry slopes and as weeds among crops and in wastelands. Some species are valuable fodder plants.

The fenugreek (T. foenum-graecum) is raised for food and fodder and as a drug plant in the Mediterranean region, Africa, India, and some parts of the southern USSR. The species T. caerulae is found in the European USSR and the Caucasus, where it is an imported weed. It is often cultivated in gardens as an herb. Both species are used to flavor sapsago. Among the numerous wild species used for fodder are Trigonella popovii, T. lipskyi, T. ruthenica, and T. platycarpos. Many species are very nectiferous.

REFERENCE

Vasil’chenko, I. T. “Obzor vidov roda Trigonella L.” In Flora i sistematika vysshikh rastenii, fasc. 10. Moscow-Leningrad, 1953.

T. V. EGOROVA