306 WALDRON— THE PEANUT 



it the marks of a great antiquity in Asia. No Sanskrit name for it 

 is known, but only a Hindustani one. Rumphius^^ says that it 

 was imported from Japan to several islands of the Indian Archipelago. 

 It would in that case have borne only foreign names, like the Chinese 

 name, for instance, which signified "earth bean." At the end of the 

 last century (19th) it was generally cultivated in China and Cochin- 

 China. Yet, in spite of Rumphius's theory of an introduction into 

 the islands from China or Japan, I see that Thunberg does not 

 speak of it in his Japanese Flora. Now, Japan has had dealings 

 with China for sixteen centuries, and cultivated plants, natives of 

 one of the two countries, were commonly early introduced into the 

 other. It is not mentioned by Forster among the plants employed 

 in the small islands of the Pacific. All these facts point to an Am- 

 erican origin." No authors speak of it v/ild or uncultivated in either 

 hemisphere. Those who speak of it in x'\sia or Africa carefully say 

 it is cultivated. Piso, in writing of Brazil, says the species is planted. 

 Marcgraf does not mention it as cultivated, indicating however 

 that it may have been. As to foreign names such as the Chinese, 

 meaning "earth-bean," they are all such as would occur to any one 

 upon seeing the plant. Contrary, therefore, to the suggestion of 

 some authors, little significance need be attached to the American 

 names not having accompanied it in its travels to Japan and the 

 Orient. 



According to Watt, Sir George Birdwood in his Bombay products 

 gave it a Sanskrit name meaning earth-gram. This name has been 

 repeated by some subsequent writers without the authenticity of 

 it being inquired into. 



Distribution. According to Bentham^* in "Flora Brasiliensis," 

 there are seven species of Arachis found in Brazil, six of which are 

 found in the wild state. The other {A. hypogaea) he states is generally 

 cultivated in all warm parts of the world. Now, De Candolle well 

 remarks in this relation that: "A genus of which all the well known 

 species are thus placed in a single region of America can scarcely 

 have a species common to both hemispheres; it would be too great 

 an exception to the law of geographical botany." By referring to the 

 accompanying outline map (Figure 2) which shows the reported 

 distribution of these species it will be noted that A. prostrata is the 

 most widespread, and A. pusilla the most restricted of the group. 



The writer asks if varieties of this plant, so generally grown in 

 such environment as exists in Brazil, may not be cultivated forms of 

 one or more Brazilian species? 



