Peanut

Rubus Berry Plants

Peanut

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Rubus Berry Plants

Rubus Berry Plants

Peanut

The Peanut, or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), is a Species in the Legume or "bean" Family (Fabaceae). The cultivated Peanut was probably first domesticated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous Plant growing 30 to 50 cm (0.98 to 1.6 ft) tall. The leaves are opposite, pinnate with four leaflets (two opposite pairs, no terminal leaflet), each leaflet 1 to 7 cm (3/8 to 2 3/4 in) long and 1 to 3 cm (3/8 to 1 inch) broad. The Flowers are a typical peaflower in shape, 2 to 4 cm (¾ to 1½ in) across, yellow with reddish veining. After pollination, the Fruit develops into a legume 3 to 7 cm (1.2 to 2.8 in) long, containing 1 to 4 Seeds, which forces its way underground to mature. Hypogaea means "under the earth."

Peanuts are known by many other local names such as earthnuts, ground nuts, goober peas, monkey nuts, pygmy nuts and pig nuts.

History

The domesticated Peanut is an amphidiploid or allotetraploid, meaning that it has two sets of chromosomes from two different species, thought to be A. duranensis and A. ipaensis. These likely combined in the wild to form the tetraploid species A. monticola, which gave rise to the domesticated Peanut. This domestication might have taken place in Paraguay or Bolivia, where the wildest strains grow today. In fact, many pre-Columbian cultures, such as the Moche, depicted Peanuts in their art.

Archeologists have (thus far) dated the oldest specimens to about 7,600 years found in Peru. Cultivation spread as far as Mesoamerica where the Spanish conquistadors found the tlalcacahuatl (Nahuatl = 'Peanut' whence Mexican Spanish, cacahuate and French, cacahuete) being offered for sale in the marketplace of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). The plant was later spread worldwide by European traders.

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Related : Peanut From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Rubus Berry Plants