Trigonella. (From Greek treis, three, and gonu, joint, from the triangular appearance of the flowers.) Leguminosae (Papilionoideae). Some 80 species of annual or perennial herbs, frequently aromatic. Leaves pinnately trifoliolate; leaflets toothed; stipules adnate to petiole. Flowers in heads, umbels or short, dense axillary racemes, rarely solitary; bracts minute; bracteoles absent; calyx tube short, campanulate, lobes ovate, acuminate, subequal; petals distinct, standard scarcely clawed, obovate or oblong; wings oblong, auricled, clawed, keel oblong, shorter than wings, obtuse, clawed; stamens ten, nine joined, one free, filaments not dilated, anthers uniform; ovary sessile or short-stalked, stigma terminal. Fruit oblong or oblong-linear, compressed or terete, beaked, indehiscent; seeds 1 or more. Old World.

Trigonella caerulea, cultivated as a fodder crop, is widely naturalised on waste ground and arable land. Trigonella foenum-graecum (fenugreek) occurs on the dry grassland and hillsides of southern Europe and is grown in the herb garden for medicinal and culinary use; it may be grown in the kitchen throughout the year as sprouted seeds. The chopped young shoots are added to salads or eaten as a vegetable. In the vegetable garden, fenugreek is used as a fast-growing and vigorous green manure, especially valuable where clubroot is a problem, as an alternative to mustard, Sinapis alba.

Sow seed in situ in spring into well-drained, loamy soil in full sun. Plants reach maturity in approximately 16 weeks; harvest and air-dry whole plants before removal of seed. For sprouted seeds, germinate in a glass jar with a muslin top; rinse once or twice daily in clean fresh water, and maintain a temperature between 13-21ºC. They take 2-4 days to reach edible size. Where horticultural seeds are difficult to aquire, whole seeds sold as spices are usually a viable alternative.

Slender annual, to 60cm. Leaflets ovate or round near base, toothed; stipules lanceolate, toothed at base. Flowers blue and white in dense, long-stalked, globose heads. Fruit rhombic-ovate, long-beaked. Summer. S and C Europe.

FENUGREEK; GREEK CLOVER; GREEK HAY. Annual to 60cm. Leaflets obovate, toothed at apex; stipules lanceolate-falcate, entire. Flowers off-white, 1-2 per axil; calyx hairy, teeth subulate, as long as tube. Fruit linear, long-beaked. Summer. S Europe, Asia.