Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Arachis hypogea - Peanut

Nuts/seeds/herbs

Edible parts - Seeds, Leaves, Flavouring, Spice, Pods, Vegetable, Oil, Caution

A spreading bushy plant up to about 40 cm high. Leaves are made up of 2 pairs of leaflets arranged opposite each other. Flowers are produced in the axils of leaves. Two main kinds occur. They are often called runner and bunch types. The runner kind has a vegetative or leafy branch between each fruiting branch and therefore produces a more spreading type of plant. This is called "Virginia" peanut. The pods have 2 dark brown seeds. The other kind produces fruiting branches in a sequence one after the other along the branches. These are called "Spanish-Valencia" types. They grow as a more upright plant and grow more quickly. They have lighter coloured leaves and the pods have 2 to 6 seeds which are often white. Virginia types have the flowers in alternate pairs. Spanish and Valencia types have several flower branches one after another along the stem. Pods are produced on long stalks which extend under the ground. The stalk or peg from the flower grows down into the soil and then produces the pod and seed under the ground. The flower needs to be no more than 18 cm from the soil for the seed pod to