PEANUT 431 



the Atlantic. Since their introductiop into the United 

 States they have been grown principally in Virginia and 

 North CaroUna, certain parts of Tennessee, Arkansas, 

 and Alabama, and in a smaller way in almost all sections 

 of the southern states. Virginia and North Carolina 

 produce more than half of the commercial crop of the 

 United States. The rather general distribution of peanuts 

 throughout the Southern States has\ taken place since 

 1866, due partially to the knowledge of the edible qualities 

 of this crop secured by the southern soldiers who fought 

 in Virginia and North Carolina. 



536. Description. — Botanically the peanut belongs 

 to the fajmily, Papilionaceaj, or pea family. It is an annual 

 with a more or less trailing habit of growth. The plants 

 grow from one to two feet high and produce thick, angular, 

 hairy stems with spreading branches. Each leaf consists 

 of the leaf-stem and two pairs of leaflets. No tendrils 

 are produced. The small yellow flowers are produced 

 more or less clustered in the axils of the leaves. Two 

 kinds of flowers are produced: the male or staminate 

 flowers which are rather showy; and the hidden or cleis- 

 togamous pistillate flowers. "The stamens are monadel- 

 phous, but the alternate ones are short." When fertili- 

 zation takes place the male flowers soon wither and fall. 

 Immediately the short, thick peduncles that support the 

 female flowers begin to elongate and turn downward until 

 the sharp-pointed ovaries are thrust into the soil, the re- 

 sult being that the development of the pods takes place 

 underground entirely. 



The fruit of the peanut is really not a nut, but merely 

 .a ripened pod with edible seeds, the term "nut" having 

 been added on account of the flavor of the seeds which 

 is somewhat similar to that of many true nuts. 



