1206 



FENDLERA 



FENUGREEK 



cent caps., with flat, oblong seeds. Two species from 

 Texas to Mex. Allied to Philadelphia, but differing 

 in its 8 stamens and superior ovary. They are grace- 

 ful ornamental shrubs with small, grayish foliage, 

 covered in June along the slender, arching branches 



1480. Fendlera rupicola. ( X 



with graceful white fls., resembling in shape a Maltese 

 cross. Hardy in New England, and growing best in a 

 well-drained, sandy or peaty soil and sunny position. 

 A very handsome and graceful plant for sunny rock- 

 eries or rocky slopes. Prop, by seeds or by greenwood 

 cuttings under glass. 



rupicola, Engelm. & Gray. Fig. 1480. To 4 ft. : Ivs. 

 linear-lanceolate or linear-oblong, 3-nerved, revolute 

 at the margin, grayish tomentose beneath, 3^-1 in. 

 long: fls. milky white, 1 in. across; petals rhombic- 

 ovate, with distinct claw, spreading; stamens erect. 

 June. G.F. 2:113 (adapted in Fig. 1480). G.C. III. 

 36:410. B.M. 7924. R.H. 1891, p. 42; 1899, p. 129. 

 M.D.G. 1899:231. G. 28:601. ALFRED REHDER. 



FENNEL. Species of Fasniculum (Umbelliferae), 

 annuals or treated as such, used as salad or condimental 

 herbs. Native of southern Europe. The common 

 fennel (F. offidndle, Linn.) is grown mostly for its young 

 leaves, which are used in flavoring, and also for its 

 aromatic seeds. Leaves sometimes eaten raw. Sow 

 seeds in late fall to ensure early germination in spring, 

 or sow in early spring. In any good soil, the plant 

 comes to maturity quickly. This plant has become in 

 California one of the most widely naturalized Euro- 

 pean weeds. It is a pest in pastures, said at times to 

 attain 12 or 15 feet. 



The Florence or sweet fennel is F. duke, DC. The 

 bases of the crowded leaf-stalks are much thickened, 

 making a bulb-like enlargement above the ground. This 

 thickened base has an oval form in cross-section. 

 Earthing-up blanches these thickened leaf-bases, and 

 after boiling they are fit for eating. A good fennel 

 bottom may be 3 or 4 inches high. This is an Italian 



vegetable, but is in the American trade. Easily culti- 

 vated annual; matures quickly. Sow in spring, and 

 later for succession. 



Giant fennel is cultivated for ornament, and is 

 described under Ferula. Fennel-flower is a name of 

 Nigella. L H B 



FENUGREEK ( Trigonella Fcenum-Grxcum, literally 

 Greek hay). An annual legume indigenous to western 

 Asia, cultivated for human food, forage, and for medi- 

 cinal qualities; widely naturalized in Mediterranean 

 countries; little grown in America. 



Fenugreek is an erect little-branched plant with 3- 

 foliolate leaves. The seeds are 1 or 2 lines long, brown- 

 ish yellow and marked with an oblique furrow half 

 their length. They emit a peculiar odor, and contain 

 starch, mucilage, a bitter extractive, a yellow coloring 

 matter, and 6 per cent of fixed and volatile oils. As 

 human food they are used in Egypt, mixed with wheat 

 flour, to make bread; in India, with other condiments, 

 to make curry powder; in Greece, either boiled or raw, 

 as an addition to honey; in many oriental countries, to 

 give plumpness to the female human form. The plant 

 is used as an esculent in Hindostan; as an early fodder 

 in Egypt, Algiers, France, and other countries border- 

 ing the Mediterranean. Formerly the seed was valued 

 in medicine; now it is employed only in the prepara- 

 tion of emollient cataplasms, enemata, ointments and 

 plasters, never internally. In veterinary practice it is 

 still esteemed for poultices, condition powders, as a 

 vehicle for drugs, and to diminish the nauseating and 

 griping effects of purgatives. It is commonly used by 

 hostlers to produce glossy coats upon their horses and 

 to give a temporary fire and vigor; by stockmen to 

 excite thirst and digestion in fattening animals; by 

 manufacturers of patent stock foods as a flavoring 

 ingredient. 



Fenugreek does not succeed on clays, sands, wet or 

 sour soils. It yields most seed upon well-drained loams 

 of medium texture and of moderate fertility; most 

 fodder upon rich lands. For seed-production, potash 

 and phosphoric acid should be applied; for forage, 

 nitrogenous manures. Deep plowing and thorough 

 harrowing are essential. Ten to twenty pounds of 

 seed should be used broadcast, or seven to ten pounds 

 in drills 18 inches apart. Thinning when the plants are 

 2 or 3 inches tall, and clean culture throughout the 



1481. Fern-balls as received from the dealer. 



season until blossoming time, are necessary for a seed 

 crop. The crop may be mown, dried and threshed four 

 or five months after seeding. An average yield should 

 be about 950 pounds an acre. As a green manure, 

 fenugreek is inferior to the clovers, vetches and other 

 popular green manures of this country. It possesses 



