T R I 



feen this plant. If the lec^eis be really ovate, not obovate, 



it is a very remarkable fpecies indeed. 



19. T. tomentofa. Downy Cape Fenugreek. Thunb. 

 Prodr. 137. Willd. n. 13. — " Legumes ftalked, three to- 

 gether. Leaflets and branches downy." — From the fame 

 country . 



20. T. lacmiata. Jagged Fenugreek. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1095. Willd. n. 14. (Melilotus agyptia annua, foliis 

 eleganti^r incifis ; Lippi MSS.) — Legumes ftalked, fome- 

 what umbellate, elliptical, reticulated. Leaflets wedge- 

 ftiaped, toothed. Stipulas laciniated. The Linnasan fpeci- 

 nien of this rare fpecies was fent by Burmann, with the 

 above fynonym, by which we learn that it was gathered in 

 Egypt by Lippi, who did not live to publifli his difcove- 

 ries. (See Lippia.) This is a flender, dehcate, fmooth, 

 apparently decumbent, plant, refembUng Medicago laclniata. 

 The ferns are about lis inches long, unbranched, angular. 

 Leafcts a quarter of an inch long, abrupt, ribbed, very deeply 

 and fliarply toothed at the end. Stipulas palmate, acute. 

 Flower-Jlalks axillary, rtiorter than the footjlalis, tipped with 

 a fmaU point. Flotvers from three to fix, yellow. Calyx 

 pale, flightly hairy, with awl-fliaped teeth of its own 

 length. Legume twice the length of the calyx, minutely 

 reticulated, rather hairy, acute at each end. 



21. T. pinnatifda. Pinnatiiid Fenugreek. Cavan. Ic. 

 V, I. 26. t. 38. Willd. n. 13. Alt. n. 8 — Legumes nearly 

 fefiile, axillary, linear, comprefled, two or three together. 

 Leaflets pinnatiiid. Stipulas toothed. — Native of the bor- 

 ders of fields about Madrid, flowering in May. Its feeds 

 were brought from thence to Kew, by the late marchionefs 

 of Bute. This little annual fpecies is clofely related to the 

 laft, being of the fame fize, with feveral quadrangulary^cmj-. 

 But the leajlets are more oblong, and deeply pinnatifid, not 

 merely cut about the extremity. Floaters from three to five 

 in the bofom of each leaf, on very (hort ftalks, pale yellow. 

 Calyx hke the laft. The legumes, as Cavanilles obferves, are 

 totally different, an inch or more in length, very narrow, 

 flightly curved, with many feeds. Only two or three legumes 

 feem to be perfefled, though the fotvers are defcribed as 

 rather more numerous. 



22. T. Fenum-gracum. Common Fenugreek. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 1095. Willd. n. 16. Ait. n. 9. Woodv. Med. Bot. 

 t. 158. Sm. Fl. Grsec. Sibth. t. 766, unpubhfhed. (Foenum 

 graecum ; Camer. Epit. 199. Ger. Em. 1196. f. I. Fce- 

 nugrscum ; Rivin. Tetrap. Irr. t. 81. Fcenogrsecum ; 

 Fuchf. Hift. 798. Matth. Valgi-. v. i. 374.) — Legumes 

 axillary, fefiile, oblong, comprefied, hair}-, with an oblique, 

 awl-fliaped beak. Stems fpi-eading. Stipulas ovate, entire. 

 — Native of the fouth of Europe. Dr. Sibthorp found it 

 plentifully on the fliores of Afia Minor, as well as in Rhodes 

 and Cyprus ; more fparingly on mount Hymettus near 

 Athens. It has long been cultivated for the fake of its 

 feeds, which from the days of Diofcorides have been 

 thought cooling and detergent. Their fcent is very power- 

 ful, refembhng Melilot ; which renders them difagreeable in 

 fomentations and cataplafms, the only ufes for which they 

 have been retained in the apothecaries' fiiops. They are 

 now nearly exploded. (See Fenugreek.) The herbage 

 is ufed in fome European countries for fodder. The 

 root is annual. Stems various in luxuriance and direftion, 

 from one to two feet long, reddifli, ftout, leafy and hairy. 

 Leaflets inverfely heart-fiiaped, various in lize from a quarter 

 of an inch to an inch, moftly fmooth, of a deep, rather 

 glaucous, green, more or Icfs toothed. Footfalks hairy, 

 rather longer than the leaflets. Flowers two or three, axil- 

 lary, feffile, yellow, white, or pale blue ; fandard an inch 

 long, emarginate, ereft ; wings and keel much Ihorter, by 



T R I 



no means anfwering to the generic charafter. Calyx hairy, 

 with awl-(haped, nearly equal, teeth. Legume, in a wild 

 ftate, about an inch long, veiny, a quarter of an inch broad, 

 tapering into an oblique beak, longer than itfelf, but very 

 various in that refpett : in the cultivated plant, the length of 

 the legume, containing above a doTen feeds, greatly exceeds 

 that of tlie beak. Dr. F. Buchanan, in his Journey through 

 the My fore, v. i. 374. relates, that this herb, known by 

 the name of Mentea, when cultivated in gardens is always 

 ufed green. When fown for the feed, as grain, the ground 

 is plowed twice at the fame, feafon, and divided into plots 

 like a kitchen -garden. The feed is fown, covered by hand, 

 and according to the nature of the foil, and watered once in 

 ten or fifteen days. " The ripe feed," fays this author, 

 " fells very high, and is reckoned the moft delicate kind of 

 pulfe. The young leaves are ufed as greens, and the un- 

 ripe legumes put into Curries." We find theie feeds are one 

 ingredient in the receipts for Curry powder, communicated 

 from India. T. gladiata, Bieberft. Taur. v. 2. 222, muft 

 be prefumed a variety of the fpecies before us. 



23. T. indica. Indian Fenugreek. Linn. Sp. PI. IO95'- 

 Willd. n. 17. Ait. n. 100. (Lotus maderafpatanus, vil- 

 lofus, ornithopodii fihqua fingulari ; Pluk. Phyt. t. 200. 

 f. 7, faulty, as reprefenting the legumes terminal.) — Le- 

 gumes linear, nearly feffile, moftly folitary, flightly curved, 

 much longer than the leaves. Leaflets entire. Stem diffufe. 

 — Native of the Eafl Indies, from whence its feeds were 

 fent by Dr. Roxburgh to Kew, in 1793. ^^ annual ftove 

 plant, flowering in July and Auguft. The whole herb is 

 minutely hairy, or filky. Stems a foot long, round, branched. 

 Leaflets obovate, narrow, three-quarters of an inch long, all 

 equally nearly feffile, on a falk of their own length. 

 F/o-Tvers fmall, yellow or reddifh, drooping, on very fhort 

 ftalks, ufually two together, from tlie bofoms of the leaves. 

 Calyx-teeth lanceolate, leafy. Legumes an inch and a quarter 

 or an inch and a half long, comprefled, narrow, pale, hairy, 

 with mAny feds. We fhould have fuppofed the feeds of this 

 fpecies to have made an ingredient in the Curry powders of 

 India ; but we find nothing of this kmd recorded, nor is the 

 plant mentioned in the admirable work of Dr. Buchanan, 

 cited under the laft fpecies. 



Trigonella Fojflis, in Natural Hiflory, the name of a 

 foffile fhell, of the cockle kind, but approaching to a tri- 

 angular figure, haring a broad bottom to which it defcends, 

 almoft in ftraight lines : on each fide from the head or 

 cardo, thefe are ufually found fmall, but there are fome met 

 with of four or five inches round : they are found at dif- 

 ferent depths, in ftone quarries, bedded in the matter of the 

 ftrata ; and that often in the hardeft ftone. In fome in- 

 ftances, the fliells are found remaining in their native ftate ; 

 but moft frequently the fliell itfelf is perifhed and gone, 

 and there is a ftony or fparry matter depofited in its place. 

 Hill. 



TRIGONIA, in Botany, fo named from tfui, three, and 



yxn-ji, an angle, alluding to its triangular fruit Aubl. Guian. 



387. Schreb. Gen. 495. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 3. 921. 

 Mart. Mill. Dia. v. 4. Vahl Eclog. fafc. 2. 53. Schrad. 



Tour. v. I. 355. Juff. 253. Lamarck lUuftr. t. 347 



Clafs and order, Diadelphia Deeandria. Nat. Ord. Lomen- 

 tacett, Linn. ? Malpighiis njine, Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, turbi- 

 nate ; limb in five fegments, the two upper ones moft deeply 

 divided, ereft, fpreading. Cor. papilionaceous, of five 

 petals; i^andard ereft, pitted at the bafe, flat, with a claw ; 

 wings longer and narrower, reflexed ; keel of two con- 

 verging petals. NeClary two fcales at the bafe of the 

 germen. Stam. Filaments ten, united into one common 



iheath, 



