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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
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Plant · P-236
Lentil
Vicia lens
Lentil is a cool-season pulse that fixes its own nitrogen and produces one of the most digestible edible seeds of any legume, cooked, sprouted or ground into flour. It stops growing outright above 27 C, so it goes in during fall and finishes before summer heat arrives, and it needs a dry spell at harvest - wet conditions cause the pods to sprout or rot in the field. Beyond the seed crop, its straw outperforms cereal straw as livestock feed, and a dense winter stand doubles as ground cover until it dies back at harvest.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 2–10
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Moderate
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 12–30 in
- Mature spread
- Not yet recorded
- Plant spacing
- 1–2 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- None
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
Adzuki is the odd one out among the beans in this group: a very hot summer is actively too hot for it, since heat above about 35C damages…
Herbaceous · USDA 3–11
African Eggplant
Solanum aethiopicum
African Eggplant, also called gboma or scarlet eggplant, is a West and Central African relative of eggplant that gives two harvests from one…
Herbaceous · USDA 8–12
Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
Agrimony is a slender herbaceous perennial of sunny, disturbed ground across Europe and western Asia, grown mainly for the tannin-rich leaves…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial legume grown worldwide as one of the richest forage crops available, its taproot running six metres or…
Herbaceous · USDA 4–11
Aloe Vera
Aloe vera
Aloe Vera is a stemless, clump-forming succulent with thick, spiny-edged leaves that store a clear gel used to soothe burns, wounds and skin…
Herbaceous · USDA 10–12
Alsike Clover
Trifolium hybridum
Alsike Clover fixes nitrogen in wet, acid ground too cold and heavy for red clover to thrive in, and its flowers keep bees working all season…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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