47 



CHAPTER III. 



DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS LEGUMINOUS PLANTS 

 OF AGRICULTURAL VALUE. 



ARACHIS HYPOG.^A (PEA-NUT). 



Origin. — Arachis hypogcca, the scientific name for the 

 pea-nut, is derived from the Greek a, privative, and rachis, 

 a branch. It was discovered in Northern America, and is 

 generallv beheved to be a native of Brazil. M. Marcel 

 Dubard, in a treatise on the origin of the pea-nut, in the 

 Bulletin du Museum d'histoire naturelle, igo6, p. 340, draws 

 attention to the name of " manteiga," or its abbreviation 

 "tiga," by which this plant is still known to the Mandi- 

 gans as far as the borders of Kong, and whose form 

 (" manteiga " is the Portuguese word for butter) distinctly 

 points to the Portuguese as being originally responsible 

 for its propagation. From ihis it may be inferred that the 

 first seeds came from Brazil. 



The plant spread very rapidly and soon reached the 

 remaining countries of America. Apparently, according to 

 M. M. Dubard, it was first introduced into Peru, and thence 

 into Mexico. From Mexico, towards the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century, the pea-nut made its appearance in 

 France and was cultivated in the Botanical Gardens at 

 Montpellier; later on, towards the end of the same century, 

 it was grown in Spain by Don Ulloa, Archbishop of 

 Valencia, who obtained the seeds from America. 



It is to be remarked, however, that the pea-nut was 

 grown in Spain towards 1790, and in Cossigny's work, 

 published in 1802, Moyens d' Amelioration des Colonies, 

 we learn that it was the citizen Mechain, Prefet des Landes, 

 in France, who obtained it from Spain and cultivated it in 

 the South of France. 



