L84 ONTRIBUTIONS FROM nil NATIONAL 1 1 BRBAB1 1 • M . 



pedicel; Legume sessile, 2 or L- join ted, usually L-eeeded, mucronate by the uncinate 

 Btyle I 



Bayamon in coast districts ai Palo Seco; between Aibonito and Coai a 



• uno in sunny copses on Juey brook; near Guanica, in rocky coast dis- 

 tricts at Oafio Gordo; near Salinas de Cabo Rojo in the sandy soil of the 

 Bahama, Cuba, Jamaica, Cayman Sitchcock . Ham. 8t. Thomas, St. John l'._ 

 St Martin Stockholm Serbarium . St. Bartholomew do. . St. Kitts, Antigua 

 bert . Guadeloupe, Desirade, St. Vincent, Bequia (Kew Bull, do, 81, p. 245 . Bar- 

 1 . nada North and South America. 

 I n al name, zarzabaooa > nana. 



41. ARACHIS I.. 



his I.. 8p. PI. 2: Til. i::»:;. 

 !/ ndubi A.DAN8. Fam. 2: :;l':;. I7»;:;. 

 hidna M<o \, h. M.th. 121. L794. 



Calyx mix' filiform, the lobes membranous, the four upper ones connate, the I 

 thin, distinct; petals and stamens inserted into tin- apex of the tube; standard sub- 

 orbicular, wings oblong, free; keel incurved, rostrate; stamens all connate in a 

 iul><-. sometimes only U: anthers alternately longer and shorter, axed near th< 

 and versatile; ovary Bubseesile at the base of the tube, 2 or 3-ovulate, the torus after 

 the flower falls becoming an elongated, deflexed, rigid .-talk forcing the fruit into 

 the ground, the apex acute, and after the style falls terminated by a stigma-like 

 callus: Btyle long, filiform; stigma minute, terminal: pod ripening beneath the soil, 

 oblong, reticulated, indehiscent, subtorulose, hut not articulated, continuous within; 

 seeds l to ;;. irregularly ovoid.- Low. often prostrate herbs; leaves paripinnate; 

 Leaflets usually 2-jugate, rarely one abortive; stipules adnate to the petiole; flowers 

 yellow or whitish, in axillary, solitary, sessile, dense Bpikes; bracts often auriculate; 

 bracteoles linear. 



1. Arachis hypog-aea L. 



(Urban, - 



Stem- 30 to 60 cm. long, herbaceous, diffuse, the branches clothed especially 

 above with spreading hairs: stipules 2.5 cm. long, the lower half adnate. the points 

 lanceolate; petioles -.'■> to. :;:> cm. long, silky; Leaflets in two pairs, without a termi- 

 nal one, obovate, 3 to 5 cm. Long by more than half as broad; flowers yellow, axil- 

 lary, solitary, on Long slender pedicels, only the lower ones fertile: pod 2.5 cm. Long, 

 L.2 em. thick. 



Cultivated and Beemingly wild near Bayamon; near Yaueo, on Mount Duey in 

 maize fields; near Mayaguez. — Cuba (Sagra), Jamaica (Grisebach), St. Thomas 

 St. <'n<i\ do.), St. John (do. . St. Bartholomew (Euphrasen . Antigua 

 (Grisebach . Guadeloupe, Dominica (Grisebach), Martinique, St. Vincent. Culti- 

 vated everywhere in the Tropics. It is probably a native of Brazil, to which coun- 

 try the six other Bpecies of the genus belong exclusively. 



his hypogaea, the peanut, groundnut, goober, Manila nut. is not only found in 

 all tropical countries, hut is sometimes cultivated in southern Europe in Italy. Spain, 

 and Prance and is extensively grown in the United States, from Virginia southward. 

 In the United States the seeds are consumed in very Large amount- after roasting, 

 being sold on the streets and eaten between meals, while smaller but considerable 

 quantities are used in confectionery and in the form of "peanut butter." In the old 

 World million- of bushels are utilized for making an oil which is similar to the finest 

 olive oil and is Largely substituted for it. The oil cake is used a- food for live stock, 

 and in Spain from it i- made, by mixing it with cacao, BUgar, and Bpices, a kind of 

 chocolate, which i.- the daily food of the poorer people. 



