,[ s8o ] 
nuts, or ground peafe. They are originally, it is pre- 
lumed, of the growth of Africa, and brought from 
thence by the negroes, who ufe them as food, both 
raw and roafted, and are very fond of them. They 
are therefore cultivated by them in the little parcels 
of land fet apart for their ufe by their mafters. By 
tliefe means, this plant has extended itfelf, not only 
to our warmer American fettlements, but it is culti- 
vated in Surinam, Brafil, and Peru. 
The plant, which produces thefe, has been men- 
tioned, and defcribed, by the botanical writers of the 
later times. Ray, in his Hiflory of Plants, calls it 
Arachis Hypogaios Americanus. 1 1 is the Arachidna qua- 
drifoUa villofa of Plumier. Sir Hans Sloane, in his Hi- 
ffory of Jamaica, calls it Arachidna Indice utriufque te- 
iraphylla. Pifo and Marcgraac both mention it among 
the Brafilean plants, under the name of Munduhi, 
Linnaeus has conftituted a genus of this plant, of which 
only one fpecies is as yet known, under Mr. Ray’s 
generical name of Arachis. 
This plant, together with a very few of the trifo- 
liate tribe, has the property of burying its feeds under 
ground, which it does in the following manner. As 
foon as the plant is in flower, its flower is bent towards 
the ground until it touches it. The pointal of the 
flower is then thruft into the ground to a fufflcient 
depth, where it extends itfelf, and forms the feed- 
velTel and fruit, which is brought to maturity under 
ground, from whence it is dug up for ufe. 
This plant, which is a native of warm climates, will 
not bear being cultivated to advantage in Great-Bri- 
tain, or in the northern colonies; but, according to 
Mr. Brownrigg, in fouthern climates its produce 
is 
