Herbs, annual or perennial, erect or prostrate. Leaves with partly adnate stipules, paripinnately 3-4-foliolate, stipels absent. Inflorescence solitary or 2-7-flowered spikes; bracts membranous, primary ones biapiculate. Calyx membraneous, filiform, 5-lobed, the 4 upper lobes united, the lower more or less free. Flowers yellow, sometimes striped with red. Vexillum, rounded, shortly narrowed at the base, wings free, keel beaked, incurved. Stamens 8-10, monadelphous, 4-5 anthers elongate, alternating with 4-5 short ones. Ovary subsessile, linear 1-7-ovuled, style very long, soon deciduous; stigma minute, terminal. Fruit 1-6-seeded, slightly constricted, functionally indehiscent, thick walled, developing below the soil, having been pushed beneath by the considerable lengthening of the gynophore. Seeds ovoid or oblong; cotyledons rich in oil.

A genus with 19 S. American species, one of which is widely cultivated throughout the warmer parts, including Pakistan.

Lower Taxon

• Arachis hypogaea Linn.