71 TBIGONELLA FCENUM-GR^CUM 



what falcate, stigma capitate. Pod 5 to 7 inches long by g to J 

 inch wide, erect when young, afterwards bent downwards, some- 

 what curved in a falcate manner, much laterally compressed, 

 smooth, veined with a few longitudinal anastomosing nerves, 

 surrounded at the base by the persistent calyx, gradually tapering 

 at the apex into a long, slender beak, frequently capped by 

 the withered corolla which has been carried on by the growth 

 of the fruit. Seeds 10 20 in the pod, on long funicles, com- 

 pressed, obliquely rhomboid, nearly i inch long, pale orange, 

 slightly rough, with a deep oblique furrow across the upper part ; 

 cotyledons plane-convex, radicle very large, doubled down on the 

 edges of the cotyledons (accumbent) ; no endosperm. 



Habitat. A native of the East, including Thessaly, many parts 

 of Asia Minor, and Persia. By cultivation it has spread through 

 the Mediterranean region and Central Europe, and also into Egypt, 

 Abyssinia, and India. It is now less used as a forage plant than 

 formerly, but is still cultivated in the South of France, Morocco, 

 Egypt, and India. The plant has a strong and characteristic 

 smell, especially when dried. 



If the seeds are placed in water, the inner seed-coat swells up 

 into a thick mucilage and bursts the testa. 



DC. Prod., ii, p. 182 ; Gren. & Godr., Fl. France, i, p. 397 ; Bois- 

 sier, PI. Orient., ii, p. 70; Oliver, PL Trop. Africa, ii, p. 70; 

 Lindl., Fl. Med., p. 239. 



Part Used and Name. F(ENi-G-m:ci SEMEN ; the seed. It is 

 not official in the British Pharmacopoeia, or the Pharmacopoeia of 

 India, or the Pharmacopoeia of the United States. They were, 

 however, formerly official in our pharmacopoeias. 



General Characters, Commerce, and Composition. Fenugreek 

 seeds of commerce are small, hard, angular, somewhat compressed, 

 often more or less shrivelled, and with a light brown or brownish- 

 yellow colour externally, and yellow internally. They have a some- 

 what oily and farinaceous taste, accompanied by a slight bitter- 

 ness, and feeble melilot flavour; and a strong, peculiar odour, 

 which is also suggestive of melilot, or of coumarin. They give 



