Georgia State Crop

The scientific name for the common, commercially grown peanut is Arachis hypogaea L. Contrary to popular opinion, however, the peanut is not really a nut such as a pecan or walnut. It is actually a close relative of the black eyed pea in the family Leguminosae. Legumes are plants in which the roots contain nodules of nitrogen fixing bacteria which return remarkable amounts of nitrogen to the soil. Logically, the peanut is a perfect crop to rotate in with soil depleting plants like cotton and is used extensively for this purpose

The peanut plant is a sparsely hairy, taprooted, annual bush about 45 cm tall when mature. The four main botanical varieties are Virginia, Spanish, Valencia, and Peruvian Runner. They are distinguished from each other by branching habit, branch length, and hairiness. The most interesting facet of peanut growth is the development of the seeds. After the small, yellow flowers pollinate themselves, the stalks at the bases of the ovaries, called pegs, elongate rapidly and turn downward due to geotropism. The peg then buries itself several inches in the ground to mature in approximately four months .