anch, meaning having no branches, which is
not true of this plant. The specific appellation, _hypogaea_, or
"under-ground," describes the manner in which the pods grow. The
following is a partially technical description of the plant:

Root annual, branched, but not fibrous, yellowish, bitter, and warty;
Stem procumbent, spreading, much-branched, somewhat hairy towards the
extremities; Leaves compound, leaflets obovate, mucronate, margin
entire, ciliate when young, smooth and almost leathery with age, leaves
closing at night and in rainy weather; Flowers papilionaceous, yellow,
borne upon the end of an axillary peduncle. After flowering, the
forming-pod is, by the elongation of its stalk, pushed into the soil,
beneath which it grows and ripens; Legume, or pod indehiscent, woody
and veiny, one to four-seeded; Seed, with a reddish coat, the embryo
with two large, fleshy cotyledons, and a very short, nearly straight,
radicle. Figure 1 represents a portion of the Peanut plant.

[Illustration: Fig. 1.--PORTION OF THE PEANUT PLANT, showing
how the minute pods from above-ground flowers are forced into the soil
to grow and ripen.]

=Varieties.=--While no botanical varieties of _Arachis hypogaea_ have
been described, its long cultivation in different countries in unlike
soils and climates, has produced several cultural varieties. Taking the
Virginia Peanut as the typical form, there may be named as differing
from it, the North Carolina Peanut, having very small but solid and
heavy pods, that weigh twenty-eight pounds to the bushel. The Tennessee
Peanut is about the size of the Virginia variety, but has a seed of a
much redder color and less agreeable flavor. There is a Bunch variety,
that does not spread out like a mat over the soil, but grows upright
like the common field pea. This last kind has been raised to some extent
in Virginia, but has never become popular with planters, and is fast
passing out of cultivation. It is possible that the Bunch Peanut is a
representative of the plant in its wild state. It produces fewer seeds
and less vine than any other kind. The flat or spreading Peanut shows a
tendency to sport in this direction, and in any large field of peanuts,
quite a number of plants will be found that have the bunch form, and
such are always barren or seedless hills.

The small-podded, or North Carolina Peanut, is not at all popular with
pickers, because it takes a great many more to make a basketful, and,
unless