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Peanuts, an unusual fruit

Q: Where and how do peanuts grow? -"Peanuts", Brocton, Massachusetts

A: Peanuts grow well in any sandy place where it's warm for 120 to 140 days, moderately rainy (25 to 50 inches yearly), and no frost. The plant originated in South America, perhaps Brazil or Bolivia, and now is grown worldwide. Georgia grows nearly half the US crop.

[Victor Sobolev, US Dep of Agriculture] A blossom that precedes the fruit

Farmers plant peanuts by seed. The seed sprouts, grows about 18 inches, and bears light green leaves. Yellow flowers appear and bloom for about a month. The plant pollinates itself usually but occasionally bees transfer the pollen to another plant. After fertilization and the flowers fade, the young fruit forms a pointed stalk called a peg. The peg points and grows downward. The fruit (i.e., peanuts) develop a woody outer shell (the peanut shell) and the pointed fruits bury themselves: in the ground! They continue to mature underground but ripen at different times-anywhere from 90 to over 150 days--which makes harvesting them tricky.

[Victor Sobolev, US Dep of Agriculture] The fruit, peanuts

Southerners, before the Civil War and often to this day, call peanuts: ground nuts, ground peas, pindar, goobers, and goober peas. The names pindar and goober were African tribal names that slaves remembered. As the names imply, sometimes people think of a peanut as a nut. It isn't a nut at all but, a legume like beans and peas.

(Answered by April Holladay, science correspondent, May 1, 2002)

Further Surfing:

USATODAY.com, WonderQuest: How salt gets into salted peanuts

US Dep of Agriculture: National peanut research lab