292 
ON  OLEUM  ARACHIS  KYVOGMM. 
salt  or  some  form  of  sauce.  It  may  be  that  Tussac's  plant  is 
one  of  the  foregoing  species. 
The  fecula  which  has  been  furnished  under  the  name  of  Tal- 
eahuano  Arrow  Hoot  is  of  a  dull  white  color,  a  little  lumpy, 
and  having  a  slightly  rough  feel.  It  is  destitute  of  odor,  and 
has  no  marked  flavor.  The  form  of  the  granules  is  either  irregu- 
larly circular,  ovoid  or  irregularly  ovoid,  with  an  apparent  rec- 
tilinear slit,  one  fourth  the  diameter,  or  varied  so  as  to  be  tri- 
radiate  from  a  central  point. 
We  have  not  any  idea  that  the  fecula,  to  which  in  the  present 
paper  we  have  directed  attention,  will  ever  become  an  article  of 
consumption  in  this  or  European  countries  ;  we  have  presented  it 
to  the  public  with  the  sole  view  of  pointing  out  an  additional 
source  of  supply  not  usually  referred  to  in  systematic  treatises 
upon  the  Materia  Medica.  The  article  will  therefore  be  interest- 
ing to  those  who  desire  to  possess  a  fuller  history  of  the  feculas 
than  has  been  given  in  such  treatises. 
ON  OLEUM  ARACHIS  HYPOG^E^I. 
By  Jonas  Winter. 
Nat.  Order:  Leguminosce. 
Genus :  Araehis,  Linn. 
Species  :  Araehis  hypogcea,  Linn. 
Annual ;  slightly  hairy  ;  branching  from  the  root  and  diffusely 
spreading ;  1  to  2  feet  high ;  leaves  equally  pinnate,  long 
petioled  ;  leaflets  in  two  pairs,  obovate  pinnately  veined,  nearly 
sessile ;  stipules  lanceolate,  entire,  acuminate,  adhering  to  the 
petiole  for  half  their  length ;  calyx  two-lipped  ;  corolla  small, 
yellow;  pod  gibbous,  torulose,  veined,  coriaceous,  1  to  3  seeded; 
length  |  to  1  inch.  After  flowering,  the  peduncles  elongate 
and  the  pod  buries  itself  in  the  ground,  whence  the  specific 
name  hypogcea. 
According  to  Linnaeus  it  is  a  native  of  Surinam,  Brazil  and 
Peru  in  South  America.  Lindley,  in  his  Encyclopedia  of  plants, 
also  refers  it  to  South  America,  but  thinks  it  may  have  been 
brought  thither  from  Africa.   Persoon  regarded  it  as  indigenous 
