Lentil.

Botanical name: 

Lens.

A kind of little pulse, sown in fields in some parts of England. It grows a foot and a half high, but does not stand very upright. The stalk is angulated, of a pale green, and branched; the leaves are like those of the common pea: they consist each of several pairs of small ones, set on a rib, and there is a tendril in place of an odd leaf at the end. These small leaves are of a pale green colour, and oval shape. The flowers are white and small, but in shape like a pea blossom, they stand singly on long stalks. The fruit is a pod of a flattish shape, in which there generally are two seeds also a little flatted, and of the bigness of a small pea.

The fruit is used; it is ground to powder to make into pultices for swellings, but it is not much regarded


The Family Herbal, 1812, was written by John Hill.