Cultivated as an annual fodder in Catalonia, under the name of _tapisots_,[524] and in Greece, particularly in the island of Crete, under that of _ochros_,[525] mentioned by Theophrastus,[526] but without a word of description. Latin authors do not speak of it, which argues a rare and local cultivation in ancient times. The species is certainly wild in Tuscany.[527] It appears to be wild also in Greece and Sardinia, where it is found in hedges,[528] and in Spain, where it grows in uncultivated ground;[529] but as for the south of France, Algeria, and Sicily, authors are either silent as to the locality, or mention only fields and cultivated ground. The plant is unknown further east than Syria,[530] where probably it is not wild. The fine plate published by Sibthorp, _Flora Græca_, 589, suggests that the species is worthy of more general cultivation. +Trigonel+, or +Fenugreek+—Trigonella fænum-græcum, Linnæus. The cultivation of this annual leguminous plant was common in ancient Greece and Italy,[531] either for spring forage, or for the medicinal properties of its seeds. Abandoned almost everywhere in Europe, and notably in Greece,[532] it is maintained in the East and in India,[533] where it is probably of very ancient date, and throughout the Nile Valley.[534] The species is wild in the Punjab and in Kashmir,[535] in the deserts of Mesopotamia and of Persia,[536] and in Asia Minor,[537] where, however, the localities cited do not appear sufficiently distinct from the cultivated ground. It is also indicated[538] in several places in Southern Europe, such as Mount Hymettus and other localities in Greece, the hills above Bologna and Genoa, and a few waste places in Spain; but the further west we go the more we find mentioned such localities as fields, cultivated ground, etc.; and careful authors do not fail to note that the species has probably escaped from cultivation.[539] I do not hesitate to say that if a plant of this nature were indigenous in Southern Europe, it would be far more common, and would not be wanting to the insular floras, such as those of Sicily, Ischia, and the Balearic Isles.[540] The antiquity of the species and of its use in India is confirmed by the existence of several different names in different dialects, and above all of a Sanskrit and modern Hindu name, _methi_.[541] There is a Persian name, _schemlit_, and an Arab name, _helbeh_;[542] but none is known in Hebrew.[543] One of the names of the plant in ancient Greek, _tailis_ τηλις, may, perhaps, be considered by philologists as akin to the Sanskrit name,[544] but of this I am no judge. The species may have been introduced by the Aryans, and the primitive name have left no trace in northern languages, since it can only live in the south of Europe. +Bird’s Foot+—_Ornithopus sativus_, Brotero; _O. isthmocarpus_, Cosson.