^c 



184 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM, 



pedicel; legume sessile, 2 or 1-jointed, usually l-seeded, mucronate by the un<Miuite 



style base. 



Near Bayamuu in coast districts at Palo Seco; between Aibonito and Coanio on 



rocks; near Coamo in sunny copses on Juey brook; near Guanica, in rocky («ast dis- 

 tricts at Cafio Gordo; near Salinas de Cabo Rojo in the sandy soil of the seashore. 

 Bahama, Cuba, Jamaica, Cayman (Hitchcock), Haiti, St. Thomas, St. John (Eggers), 

 St. Martin (Stockholm Herbarium), St. Bartholomew (do.), St. Kitts, Antigua (Tau- 

 bert), Guadeloupe, Desirade, St. Vincent, Bequia (Kew Bull. no. 81, p. 245), Bar- 

 bados, Grenada. North and South America. 



Local name, zarzahacoa cnana. 



41. ARACHIS L. 



Araclds L. Sp. PL 2: 741. 1753. 

 Mnndubi Adans. Fam. 2: 323. 17G3. 

 Arachidna ^Ioenctt, Meth. 121. 1794. 



J- 



Calyx tube fdiform, the lubes membranous, the fuur upi)er ones connate, the lowest 

 thin, distinct; petals and stamens inserted into the apex of the tube; standard sub- 

 orbicular, wings oblong, free; keel incurved, rostrate; stamens all connate in a closed 

 tube, sor&etimes only 9; anthers alternat(^ly longer and shorter, fixed near the base 

 and versatile; ovary sul>sessile at the base of the tube, 2 or 3-ovulate, the torus after 

 the flower falls becoming an elongated, deflexed, rigid stalk forcing the fruit into 

 the ground, the apex acute, and after the style falls terminated by a stigma-like 

 callus; style long, filiform; stigma minute, terminal; pod ripening beneath the soil, 

 oblong, reticulated, indehiscent, subtorulosc, but not articulated, continuous within; 

 seeds 1 to 3, irregularly ovoid. ^Low, often prostrate herbs; leaves paripinnate; 

 leaflets usually 2-jugate, rarely one alx)rtive; stipules adnate to the petiole; flowers 

 yellow or whitish, in axillary, solitary, sessile, dense spikes; bracts often auriculate; 

 bracteoles linear. 



1. Arachis liypogaea L. 



(Urban, 289' ) 



Stems 30 to GO cm. long, herbaceous, diffuse, the branches clothed especially 

 above with spreading hairs; stipules 2,5 cm. long, the lower half adnate, the points 

 lanceolate; petioles 2.5 to. 35 em. long, silky; leaflLts in two pairs, without a termi- 

 nal one, obovate, 3 to 5 cm. long by more than half as broad; flowers yellow, axil- 

 lary, solitary, on long sh'uder pedicela, only tin? lower ones fertile; pod 2.5 cm. long, 



1.2 cm. thick. 



Cultivated and seemingly wild near Bayamon; near Yauco, on Motmt Duey in 

 maize fields; lu'ar Mayaguez.— Cuba (Sagra), Jamaica (Grisebach), St. Thomas 

 (Eggers), St. Croix (do.), St. John (do.), St. Bartholomew (Euphrasen), Antigua 

 (Grisebach), Guadeloupe, Dominica (Griscbach), Martinique, St. Vincent. Culti- 

 vated everywhere in the Tropics. It is probably a native of Brazil, to which coun- 

 try the six other species of the genus belong exclusively. 



Arachis hypogaea, the peanut, groundnut, goober, Manila nut, is not only found in 

 all tropical countries, but is sometimes cultivatetl in southern Europe (in Italy, Spain, 

 and France) and is extensively grown in the United States, from Virginia southward. 

 In the United States the seeds are consume<l in very large amounts after roasting, 

 being sold on the streets and eaten between m<^als, while smaller but considerable 

 quantities are used in confectionery and in the form of "peanut butter.'' In the Old 

 ^\\nid millions of bushels are utilized for making an oil which is similar to the finest 

 olive oil and is largely sub^stituted for it. . The oil cake is used a? food for live stock, 

 and in Spain from it is made, by mixing it with cacao, sugar, and spices, a kind of 

 chocolate, which is the daily food of the poorer people. 



