PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR SEEDS. 4)11 



wild habitation of the plant or plants which yield this 

 product is yet but little known. We become aware on 

 this occasion of the absence of floras of tropical America, 

 similar to those of the Dutch and English colonies of 

 Asia and Africa. 



Mandubi, Pea-nut, Monkey-nut Arachis hypogcea, 

 Linnaeus. 



Nothing is more curious than the manner in which 

 this leguminous plant matures its fruits. It is cultivated 

 in all hot countries, either for the seed, or for the oil 

 contained in the cotyledons. 1 Bentham has given, in 

 his Flora of Brazil, in folio, vol. xv. pi. 23, complete 

 details of the plant, in which may be seen how the 

 flower-stalk bends downwards and plunges the pod into 

 the earth to ripen. 



The origin of the species was disputed for a century, 

 even by those botanists who employ the best means to 

 discover it. It is worth while to show how the truth 

 was arrived at, as it may serve as a guide in similar 

 cases. I will quote, therefore, what I wrote in 1855, 2 

 giving in conclusion new proofs which allow no possi- 

 bility of further doubt. 



" Linnaeus 3 said of the Arachis, ' it inhabits Surinam, 

 Brazil, and Peru/ As usual with him, he does not specify 

 whether the species was wild or cultivated in these 

 countries. In 1818, K Brown 4 writes: 'It was pro- 

 bably introduced from China into the continent of India, 

 Ceylon, and into -the Malay Archipelago, where, in spite 

 of its now general cultivation, it is thought not to be 

 indigenous, particularly from the names given to it. I 

 consider it not improbable that it was brought from 

 Africa irito different parts of equatorial America, although, 

 however, it is mentioned in some of the earliest writings 

 on this continent, particularly on Peru and Brazil. Ac- 

 cording to Sprengel, it is mentioned by Theophrastus as 



1 The Gardener's Chronicle of Sept. 4, 1880, gives details about the 

 cultivation of this plant, the use of its seeds, and the extensive exporta- 

 tion of them from the west coast of Africa, Brazil, and India to Europe. 



2 A. de Candolle, Gtograpliie Botanique Raisonnee, p. 962. 

 * Linnaaus, Species Plantarum, p. 1040. 



4 E. Brown, Botany of Congo, p. 53. 



