ERVUM LENS, Linn.* 



I Vide Plate XXXI]. 



English, lentil; Veknaculae, masur. 



Natural order Leguminosce, sub-order Papilionacece, tribe Viciea. A small softly pubescent 

 herb. Stems erect, 1-2 ft., much branched from the base, furrowed. Leaves alternate, nearly 

 sessile, with spreading lanceolate acute stipules at the base, pinnate, about 2 in. long, rachis seti- 

 form at the apex or terminating in a tendril or with an odd leaflet ; leaflets in pairs of 4-7, sessile, 

 pubescent, lanceolate, entire, often mucronate at the apex. Racemes 2-4-flowered ; peduncles about 

 as long as the leaves and extended some distance beyond the flowers. Calyx-tube short, campanu- 

 late, teeth linear, twice as long as the tube, clothed with long silky hairs. Corolla papilionaceous, a 

 little longer than the calyx teeth, pale purple ; standard suborbicular, emarginate, mucronate, with 

 a short broad claw ; wings spathulate with spreading limbs, the claws with prominent hooked pro- 

 cesses which fit into the sides of the keel ; keel petals a little shorter than the wings. Stamens 

 diadelphous. Style curved upwards, bearded on its inner side. Pod rhomboid-oblong, about ^ in. 

 long, smooth, compressed, 2-valYed, tipped with the base of the style. Seeds usually 2, compressed, 

 lenticular, marble-spotted. 



According to Decandollef this plant is a true native of Western Asia, Greece, 

 and Italy ; at a very early period it appears to have been brought to Egypt as a culti- 

 vated plant, and from this centre to have spread to Europe westward and to India east- 

 ward. 



Lentils are grown as a cold weather crop under much the same conditions as peas. 

 Their cultivation is most extended in the damper parts of the Provinces. In the Tarai 

 district the area under them constitutes nearly 7 per cent, of the total rabi cropped area; 

 in the Rohilkhand Division it amounts to 2 per cent. ; and in the districts of the Benares 

 Division to 1*3 per cent. In no other division does it reach so high a proportion as 1 

 per cent., being next largest in the Meerut and Allahabad Divisions (0*8 and 0*7 per cent.), 

 and smallest in the Agra and Jhansi Divisions (O'l and 0*3 per cent.), which together 

 comprise the driest tract in the Provinces. Taking the 30 temporarily settled districts 

 as a whole, masur is grown on almost exactly 1 per cent, of the total rabi cropped area. 



It is sown in all kinds of soils, but chiefly in low-lying land. It is comparatively 

 seldom grown after an autumn fallow, but most commonly follows early rice, being often 

 sown while the rice stalks are standing, and allowed to grow up amongst them. Three 

 ploughings are as a rule sufficient. 



The quantity of seed sown per acre varies with the condition of the ground, but is 

 commonly about one maund. The average produce from unirrigated land is from 6| to 



• References :— Royle 111. 200 •, Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 179 ; Baden-Powell Punj. Prod. 241 ; Gaz. N.-W. P. Vol. x. 

 69*; DC. L'Orig PI. Cult. 257. Lens esculenta, M.(Bixch. Method 131; Bentley aud Trimen Med. PI. 76. Gicer Lens, 

 Willd. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 324. 



t DC. L'Orig. fl. Cult. 1. c. 



