176 
The flowers, which are pea-like and bright orange-yellow, are pro- 
duced one at a time from large buds at the bases of the leaves. 
Their duration is but short, for they wither for the most part on 
the day of their production. 
Outside the orange-yellow petals is the yellow-green calyx, 
rather irregularly divided into the five sepals, and below it the 
long calyx-tube (at times 3 inch long), which to the eye appears 
to be a footstalk to the flower. At this period the flower has no 
peduncle, and the ovary lies within the calyx-tube protected by the 
bracts in the leaf-axil. It is only after the fertilisation of the 
flower that the true peduncle appears. 
Not all the flowers fruit; many never advance beyond the 
blossomin , and have been thought to be male flower 
After fertilisation, as the first preparation towards fruit-ripening, 
the petals and sepals shrivel, while the calyx-tube is cut o a 
small ovary. Not until the earth is reached does the swelling of 
the fruit commence ; then the cap just mentioned falls off, the 
sear which is left by the separation of the style at its base becomes 
deeper, it ripens in the course of a few weeks into the familiar 
“earth-nut.” The usual number of seeds ina pod is two; one is 
not uncommon, three rare, and four to five occur only in a form 
which, according to Heuzé (Plantes industrielles, ii. p. 135) is 
found in Costa Rica. 
flower whose ovary fails to reach the ground fails likewise 
to produce fruit. Correa de Mello (Journ, Linn. Soc. xi., p. 254) 
records an experiment in which he prevented the flower-stalk 
from penetrating the earth by interposing an object; in the 
attempt to round the obstacle the peduncle grew to 4 or 5 inches 
young pod. It is obvious that the flowers of the upper part of the 
stem stand in a disadvantageous position, for they can less readil 
— their pods, nor do many of them appear to make the attempt. 
amo’ 
nodules which are transformed rootlets, altered in in 1 
structure, and of a peculiar use to the plant. Such tubercles are 
mmon in the Legumi 
1 his, 
t en said (Eriksson, Studier dfver Leguminosernes rvotk- 
nélar, Lund, 1874) that Arachis lacks these tubercles ; such is 
not the case. Several observers have mentioned their existence, 
notably Lecompte (Comptes Rendus Acad. Paris, ye 
specim 
them. m i 
some soils than in others is stated by Andouard Comptes Rendus 
Acad. Paris, 117, p. 298), and may well be the ioe: 
