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.