Vern.: Methi.

Erect annual, 10-50 cm tall, sparingly pubescent to glabrous. Leaflets 1-3 cm long, 5-15 mm broad, obovate to oblanceolate, dentate or incised; stipules lanceolate, acuminate, entire. Flowers 1-2 in leaf axils. Calyx 7-8 mm long, teeth as long as the tube. Corolla yellowish white, sometimes tinged with lilac, 12-18 mm long. Fruit 5-11 mm long, 3-5 mm broad, glabrous or pubescent, tapering into a beak, 1-3.5 cm long, lengthwise reticulately nerved, 10-20-seeded.

Fl.Per.: April.

Type: Described from France (Montpellier), Herb. Linn.932/16 (LINN).

Distribution: Pakistan; Kashmir; India; Southern Europe; Orient; Arabia; Ethiopia.

Of doubtful origin, widely cultivated. The herb is used as a vegetable and the seed as spice. The plant contains the alkaloid trigonelline and an essential oil and is used as an insect repellent. It is also grown for fodder and soil improvement in some parts of the world.