Lentil

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" align="right" cellpadding="2" ! align="center" bgcolor=lightgreen | Lentil |- || |- ! align="center" bgcolor=lightgreen | Scientific classification |- | {| align="center" | align=left | Kingdom: || Plantae |- || Division: || Magnoliophyta |- || Class: || Magnoliopsida |- || Order: || Fabales |- || Family: || Fabaceae |- || Subfamily: || Faboideae |- || Genus: || Lens |- || Species: || culinaris |} |- ! align="center" bgcolor="lightgreen" | Binomial nomenclature |- | align="center" | Lens culinaris Medik. |- |} Lentils (Lens culinaris, Fabaceae) are lens-shaped pulses that have a short cooking time and a distinctive earthy flavor. Whole dried lentils are usually brown in color, but green and black varieties occur. They are frequently used to prepare an inexpensive, yet nutritious soup all over Europe and to a lesser degree North America, since lentils and rice form a more complete protein.

In India, lentils are mostly found in split (Dal) form. Stripped of their outer skin, split lentils are usually bright orange, green or brown in color. The thick, spicy stew prepared from lentil and other Dals is also known as Dal.

The optical lens is so named after the lentil (German: Linse), whose shape it resembles.