WALDROX— THE PEANUT 



303 



speaking people of South America. Monardes", according to 

 Marcgraf and Piso^, indicated its presence in Peru about this time, 

 giving it the name of "anchic." Aside from these and other early 

 mentions in literature, fruits of the plant were found in tombs at 

 Ancon, Peru. Their presence there undoubtedly antedates the 

 Spanish conquest, and so, also, any written record. According to 

 Dubard*, it was taken from Brazil to Peru sometime before the 



Figure i (after Marcgraf & Piso). Mundubi Braziliensis. 



sixteenth century and there "was cultivated from an early unknown 

 date." Among European works, Parkinson^ in his celebrated 

 "Theatrum Botanicum" published in 1640, gives an illustration of 

 the fruit, which is very likely the first. A few years later, (1648) 

 Marcgraf and Piso were the first to figure the whole plant (Fig. i). 

 It seems worth while to quote parts of Parkinson's quaint descrip- 

 tion as follows: 



"ArACHUS VTroyeio- AmERICANUS. UNDERGROUND CiCHELING OF 



America or Indian Earthnuts." 

 "The Indian Earth-nuts (the figure whereof, I give you together 

 as they are termed to us by them that have brought them us) are 



