40 THE PEANUT— THE UNPREDICTABLE LEGUME 



EPICOTYL 



Bouffil (13) divided the life span of the peanut into three stages: 1. 

 germination, 2. preflowering, 3. flowering, fruiting, and maturation. The 

 first of these covered the period of time necessary for emergence, i.e., in 

 Senegal, about 4 days. The period of preflowering extended from the end of 

 the first period to the appearance of the first flower, or about 26 days. The 

 third stage, flowering, fruiting, and maturation, began with the first flower 

 and lasted to maturity or about 80 to 90 days. This life span corresponds to 

 the earliest peanuts known to growers in the United States. Comparable 

 periods in some of the types grown in America would be 7 to 10 days, 30 

 days, and 120 days. 



Figure 8.— Cotyledon from 11-day old peanut seedling, crbss section. In contrast to 

 the condition at five days, njuch of the stored food has disappeared and the 

 cell contents are lightly stained. Irregular dark patcheis result from the collapse 

 of the tissues in these areas, (after Yarbrough, 76.) ' 



