104 



Y>'EEDS AND TSEFFL PI^VNTS. 



Seeds irregularly ovoid with very thick cotyledons and a straight radicle. 

 Herbs with even-pinnate leaves having elongated stipules adnate to the 

 petiole, the stipe or peduncle of the fertile flowers often elongating sev- 

 eral inches before reaching the earth. (This plant properly "belongs to 

 a section of the order not included in our synopsis, and is 'placed "here 

 as a matter of convenience.] 



1. A. hypog^'a, L. Stem procumbent : leaflets obovate. — the com- 

 mon petiole not produced into a tendril. 



Subterranean Aeachis. Ground-nut. Pea-nut. 



Fr. L'Arachide. Germ. Die Erd-nuss. Span. Mani. 



Root annual. Stem 9 -IS inclies long, prostrate or erect, branching, pilose. LeaMets an 

 inch to an inch and a lialf long, snhsessile, minutely mucronate at apex, entire and bor- 

 dered by a pilose nerve; common petioles 1-2 inches long, channelled above, pilose. 

 Sterile Jioi>:ers,l OT 2-5 or 7, in the upper axils, on long slender pedicels — ^the corolla 

 orange-yellow. 



Cultivated. Xative of South America. J"Z. July -September. P/. September - October. 



Fig. 77. The Pea-nut (Arachis hypogaea) , exhibiting the manner in whicb the ovaries, 

 after flowering, bury themselves in tlie earth, where they ripen. 



