576

Arachis glabrata Benth.

Synonym	:	Arachis glabrata var. glabrata
Family	:	Leguminosae
Local name	:	English- Hagenbeck's Peanut
Flowering and fruiting period	:	December-August
Distribution	:	Native of South America
Distribution in Kerala	:	Kozhikkode, Thrissur, Malappuram
Habitat	:	Grown as garden plant
Endemic/Exotic	:	Exotic
Uses	:	Used in intensively grazed pastures, for hay and silage production, and agroforestry (e.g. under coconuts). Also used for soil conservation (e.g. road verges) and as an ornamental.
Key botanical characters:  Herbaceous perennials with erect to decumbent unbranched stems with a deep, woody taproot and a dense mat of rhizomes. Leaves tetrafoliolate; leaflets ranging from linear-lanceolate to oblanceolate, obovate or cuneate up to 4 cm x 2 cm; apex acute to mucronate, base mostly obtuse, glabrous to sparsely pubescent; petiole grooved, up to 7.5 cm long, 1-2 mm diam. with pulvinus 10-15 mm above axil; stipules linear-lanceolate, falcate, up to 3 cm long, adnate to the petiole and membranous below the pulvinus; petiolule about 1 mm and rachis 10-15 mm long. Flowers sessile, axillary; hypanthium filiform, tubular, up to 10 cm long, pilose, containing the ovary at its base; standard more or less orbicular, 15-25 mm wide, yellow, soft orange to brilliant orange without red veins on back. Fruit set geocarpic, but usually scarce; fruit ovoid ca. 10 mm x 5-6 mm; seeds ovoid, whitish.