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Lens culinaris

Authority	Medikus
Family	Magnoliopsida:Rosidae:Fabales:Leguminosae
Synonyms	Ervum lens L., Lens esculenta
Common names	adas, heramame, lenteja, lenticchia, lentil, lentille, linse, masser, mercimek, messer, missr, red dhal, shimfa, split pea
Editor
Ecocrop code	7209

Notes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION A low, bushy, herbaceous legume with square stems reaching 30-80 cm in height. Leaves with 3-8 pairs of leaflets, flowers small, blue to white and pods rhomboidal, laterally compressed with 1-2 lens-shaped seeds. USES A nutritious pulse high in carbohydrates and protein. The seeds are used in soups and other dishes. Flour from the ground seed are used for infant food and the whole seeds aer eaten salted and fried. The seeds are also a source of starch for textile and printing industries and it has medicinal properties. Young pods are eaten as vegetables. The husks, bran and dried haulms provide fodder for livestock and the plant green or dried can be used as green manure. GROWING PERIOD Annual. Early cultivars growing 70-120 days, late cultivars 120-130 days, or sown in the autumn 180-240 days. (Monegat; autumn sown in Brazil, it provides groundcover in 70-90 days, flowers after 95-140 days and mature in 120-170 days). COMMON NAMES Lentil, Red dahl, Split pea, Adas, Adasha tarbutit, Adashim, Adesi, Ada masri, Bersem, Birssin, Burssum, Chaunangi, Chirisanagalu, Echte linse, Faki, Hiramame, Leca, Lencse, Lensie, Lenteja, Lenticchia, Lentilha, Lentille, Linse, Linze, Lanti, Massar, Masser, Massur, Mercimek, Messer, Misurpappu, Musiripappu, Thulukkappayar, Thua daeng. FURTHER INF Scientific synonyms: L. esculenta. The species is thought to be indigenous to the Mediterranean basin or West Asia. In northern India, lentil can be grown up to 3800 m in elevation and in Etiopia it is grown at altitudes between 1800-3000 m. Dry conditions must prevail just prior to, and at, harvest. On soils of high fertility vegetative growth is liable to be excessive and the yield of seeds low. Photosynthesis pathway C3. The common yield of seed under dry conditions is about 340-670 kg/ha, increasing tod between 0.9-1.7 t/ha at more favourable sites and yields can be as high as 3-4 t/ha.
Sources
SOURCES (L. culinaris Medikus) Sims D (pers. comm.) Duke A 1981 pp 318 Roecklein J 1987 pp 35 [USE] Rehm S 1991 pp 123 [TEMP] Kay E 1979 pp 210-223 [TEMP, RAIN, TEXT, PH, FER, PHO] Duke J 1975 pp 19 [PH, RAIN, TEMP] Hackett C 1982 pp 31 [FER, PHO, DEP, PH, TEXT, TEMP] Harapiak J 1975 pp 302 Edwards S up pp 73 Duke J 1981 pp 110-113 [DRA, TEXT, SAL, PHO, RAIN, TEMP, PH] Monegat C 1991 pp 119 Langer R 1991 pp 260-261 [TEXT, DRA] Maesen L 1989 pp 51-53 [USE, TEMP, RAIN, PH, DRA, TEXT, PHO]