Goober

Arachis hypogaea, the peanut or groundnut, is an annual legume 30 to 50 cm tall with an erect or trailing, branched habit. The leaves are pinnately compound, bearing two pairs of opposite oval leaflets that fold together at night. Bright yellow pea-like flowers are produced above ground in the leaf axils; after self-pollination the stalk below the fertilized ovary (the gynophore or peg) elongates downward and pushes the developing fruit into the soil, where it matures underground. This geocarpic habit is the plant's most distinctive feature. The wrinkled, netted pod contains one to four oily seeds with papery reddish-brown skins. Native to South America, where it was domesticated millennia ago, the peanut is now cultivated throughout tropical and warm-temperate regions as a major oilseed and food crop.