Editing Lentil (section)

== Botanical description ==
[[File:Illustration_Lens_culinaris0.jpg|thumb|Illustration of the lentil plant, 1885|323x323px]]

=== Name ===

Many different names in different parts of the world are used for the crop lentil.<ref name="Springer Science & Business Media-2007">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfT6hZHpXPkC&pg=PA4|title=Lentil: An Ancient Crop for Modern Times|date=2007|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |editor=Shyam S. Yadav |editor2=David McNeil |editor3=Philip C. Stevenson |isbn=978-1-4020-6312-1|location=Berlin|oclc=213090571}}</ref> The first use of the word ''lens'' to designate a specific [[genus]] was in the 17th century by the botanist [[Joseph Pitton de Tournefort|Tournefort]].<ref name="CABI-2009">{{Cite book|title=The lentil: botany, production and uses|date=2009|publisher=CABI|editor=Erskine, William |isbn=978-1-84593-487-3|location=Wallingford, UK|oclc=435462765}}</ref> The word "lens" for the lentil is of classical Roman or Latin origin, possibly from a prominent Roman family named Lentulus, just as the family name "[[Cicero]]" was derived from the chickpea, ''[[chickpea|Cicer arietinum]]'', and "[[Fabia gens|Fabia]]" (as in [[Quintus Fabius Maximus (consul 45 BC)|Quintus Fabius Maximus]]) from the fava bean (''[[Vicia faba]]'').<ref>Harold McGee, "On Food and Cooking", 2004 Edition, Scribners. {{ISBN|0-684-80001-2}}. pg. 483.</ref>

=== Systematics ===

The genus ''Vicia'' is part of the [[subfamily]] [[Faboideae]] which is contained in the flowering [[Family (biology)|plant family]] [[Fabaceae]] or commonly known as [[legume]] or [[bean]] family, of the [[Order (taxonomy)|order]] [[Fabales]] in the [[Kingdom (biology)|kingdom]] [[Plant]]ae.<ref name="CABI-2009" />

[[File:Llenties_maig.JPG|thumb|Lentil plants in the field before flowering]]

The former genus ''Lens'' consisted of the cultivated ''L. culinaris'' and six related wild taxa. Among the different taxa of wild lentils, ''L. orientalis'' was considered to be the progenitor of the cultivated lentil and was generally classified as ''L. culinaris'' subsp. ''orientalis''.<ref name="Springer Science & Business Media-2007" />

Lentil is [[hypogeal]], which means the [[cotyledon]]s of the germinating seed stay in the ground and inside the seed coat. Therefore, it is less vulnerable to frost, wind erosion, or insect attack.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pulseaus.com.au/growing-pulses/bmp/lentil/southern-guide#plant-physiology|title=Pulse Australia - Southern guide|website=pulseaus.com.au|language=en|access-date=2017-11-18}}</ref>

The plant is a diploid, annual, bushy herb of erect, semierect, or spreading and compact growth and normally varies from {{convert|30|to|50|cm}} in height. It has many hairy branches and its stem is slender and angular. The [[rachis]] bears 10 to 15 leaflets in five to eight pairs. The leaves are alternate, of oblong-linear and obtuse shape and from yellowish green to dark bluish green in colour. In general, the upper leaves are converted into [[tendrils]], whereas the lower leaves are mucronate. If [[stipule]]s are present, they are small. The flowers, one to four in number, are small, white, pink, purple, pale purple, or pale blue in colour. They arise from the axils of the leaves, on a slender footstalk almost as long as the leaves. The pods are oblong, slightly inflated, and about {{convert|1.5|cm|in|frac=8}} long. Normally, each of them contains two seeds, about {{convert|0.5|cm|in|frac=8}} in diameter, in the characteristic lens shape. The seeds can also be mottled and speckled. The several cultivated varieties of lentil differ in size, hairiness, and colour of the leaves, flowers, and seeds.

Lentils are [[self-pollinating]]. The flowering begins from the lowermost buds and gradually moves upward, so-called acropetal flowering. About two weeks are needed for all the flowers to open on the single branch. At the end of the second day and on the third day after the opening of the flowers, they close completely and the colour begins to fade. After three to four days, the setting of the pods takes place.<ref name="Springer Science & Business Media-2007" />