Flora of North America species comparison

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Trigonella corniculata

cultivated fenugreek, sickle-fruit fenugreek
Habit Herbs 10–40(–60) cm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent.
Stems

erect or procumbent, diffusely branched.
Leaves

stipules lanceolate-subulate, margins dentate or incised;

leaflet blades obovate to oblong-obovate or oblong-cuneate, (5–)10–30(–40) × (3–)8–20(–35) mm, margins dentate.
Inflorescences

10–20-flowered, spicate, ovate racemes, elongated in fruit.
Peduncles

1.5–6 cm.
Flowers

6–7(–10) mm;

calyx lobes 1/2 to as long as tube;

corolla yellow.
Legumes

pendent, linear, flattened-compressed, ± curved-falcate, 10–20(–30) × (1.5–)2–2.5(–3) mm, tapering-acuminate into beak 0.5–1.5 mm.
Seeds

4–8, yellow- to light brown, oblong, 1–2 × 1.3 mm.
2n

= 16.

Trigonella corniculata
Phenology Flowering early–late summer.
Habitat Roadsides, waste areas, fields.
Elevation 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; MA; UT; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Trigonella corniculata may be extirpated from California. The Massachusetts record is from 1979 at a single ballast site.

Trigonella corniculata is a minor, cultivated food herb in Asia, where the young leaves and stem tips are consumed as a potherb, and the seeds are used as a flavoring agent.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Trigonella
Sibling taxa
T. caerulea, T. foenum-graecum, T. procumbens
Synonyms Trifolium corniculatum
Name authority (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 1180. (1759)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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