Lentil

Lentil

Scientific name: Lens culinaris Medik.

Bangla/Local Name: মসুর (‘Mashur’)

Taxonomic Position According to Cronquist (1988)

Botanical Description of Lentil

Habit: Annual herb

Root: Tap root system

Figure: Root Anatomy of Lentil

Stem: Erect or sub-erect, slender, square cover with hairs

Figure: Stem Anatomy of Lentil

Leaf: Pinnate with four to eight pairs of leaf-let and usually ending in a tendril. Leaflets are obovate to lanceolate and arranged in a opposite to alternate

Flower: White, pink to bluish color and borne in axillary racemes up to four flowers together

Fruit: Fruit is small, flattened pod and containing 1 or two seed

Economic Importance: Lentil is very nutritious. The husk, bran and dry haulms are good fodder. The young pod is used as vegetable. The leaves are acrid and bitter. Seeds are sweet and cooling, astringent to bowel, diuretic, improves appetite, removes cough and biliousness. Dry seeds contain 24% protein and 59% carbohydrate.

Economic Importance

• Used as vegetable
• Used as soup
• The hay is widely used as fodder

Table 1. The lentil varieties released by Pulse Research Center, BARI and Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) Bangladesh