90 



THE PEANUT— THE UNPREDICTABLE LEGUME 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 

 Foliage 



The peanut is a low-growing, annual, herbaceous, leguminous plant 

 with one upright central stem (63, 68, 88) and numerous lateral branches, 

 the lower of which may branch several times. The varieties are fairly 

 well separated into the bunch and runner types. Lateral branches of 

 bunch peanuts are more or less upright, while those of the runner type 

 tend to be more prostrate. The central stem is usually taller in the more 

 erect varieties. The leaves are compound, pinnate, consisting of two 

 pairs of nearly equal leaflets, on a slender petiole of moderate length. 

 The leaflets show nyctitropic movement and tend to orient themselves 

 so as to intercept the greatest amount of light. So far as the writers 

 know, measurements of the total leaf area of peanuts have not been made ; 

 however, the area would appear to be relatively large and well suited to 

 photosynthetic activity. The leaves are moderately pubescent, which 

 should aid in the retention of dust and sprays. During the latter part of 

 the growing season there is often a progressive defoliation of leaves from 

 the base toward the stem tip. While such defoliation might be associated 

 with disease or nutritional deficiencies, there is a natural tendency for 

 loss of leaves accompanying plant maturity. 



The rate of leaf and flower appearance as recorded by Mohammad, 

 et al. (58), is shown in table 1. 



Maximum increase of leaf and flower appearance occurred with the 

 bunch peanuts (Japan and Spanish) during the interim of 56 to 97 

 days after planting and from 70 to 125 days after planting with the runner 



