FENUGREEK  , in

botany, Trigonelia Foenum-graecum (so called from the name given to it by the ancients, who used it as fodder for cattle), a member of a genus of leguminous herbs very similar in habit and in most of their characters to the species of the genus Medicago . The leaves are formed of three obovateleaflets, the middle one of which is stalked; the flowers are solitary, or in clusters of two or three, and have a campanulate, 5-cleft calyx; and the pods are many-seeded, cylindrical or flattened, and straight or only slightly curved . The genus is widely diffused over the south of Europe, West and Central Asia, and the north of Africa, and is represented by several species in Australia . Fenugreek is indigenous to south-eastern Europe and western Asia, and is cultivated in the Mediterranean region, parts of central Europe, and in Morocco, and largely in Egypt and in India . It bears a sickle-shaped pod, containing from ,o to 20 seeds, from which 6% of a fetid, fatty and bitter oil can be extracted by ether . In India the fresh plant is employed as an esculent . The seed is an ingredient in curry powders, and is used for flavouring cattle foods . It was formerly much esteemed as a medicine, and is still in repute in veterinary practice .