This is the plant of…

• • peanuts
• • squash
• • nightshade
• • chickpeas

The peanut plant, Arachis hypogaea, is native to the Americas. After pollination, its flowers turn into tender pods which droop to the ground and enter the soil. The pods grow to maturity underground, developing a fibrous husk around their firm, nutlike peas. Come the harvest, the pods are extracted from the ground and split open to get at their peas, which are processed into oil, soap, nitroglycerin, and above all into peanut butter and snacks. The fruit of the peanut plant, though technically a pea, is eaten like a nut.