The Life Cycle of a Peanut Plant

Stages

• The life cycle of a peanut plant begins with an embryonic peanut seed which sprouts a plumule, later to become the first leaves of the plant. The seed's flesh produces carbohydrates and proteins for the plant to turn it into a seedling. A planted seedling will grow into a plant with oval-shaped leaves and small yellow flowers. These flowers pollinate themselves and the fertilized ovary grows. Next the ovary grows away from the plant with the peanut embryo on its tip, leaning towards the soil and pushing underground. It then turns into a pod containing two seeds which will mature and develop into a peanut.

Maturity

• The peanut plant continues to flower and push embryonic peanuts under the soil. After the peanuts ripen, they are hand- or machine-harvested: cut at their roots underground and inverted to keep them clear of the soil and allow them to dry. After they are dry, the pods are removed from the rest of the plant.

Time Frame

• The peanut plant flowers bloom for only around half a day. Several days later the stem will grow down into the soil. After the plant has sprouted, the peanuts will ripen in around eight to ten weeks. The entire peanut plant life cycle takes around one year.

Care

• To cultivate your own peanut plant, plant a raw peanut in well-drained soil, 1 to 2 inches deep. Keep the soil warm and moist until germination. This should take around one week. There will then be a wait of up to three months for the peanuts to develop. You can then dig up the mature plant and let it dry out before it is ready to be roasted and eaten.

Function

• The American inventor and scientist George Washington Carver (1864-1943) discovered many different uses for the peanut. He is said to have invented peanut oil for massages and a medicine (when mixed with creosote) to treat tuberculosis. Aside from the popular salted peanuts, peanut butter and peanut brittle which are enjoyed worldwide, peanuts are used in some cosmetics, dyes, paints and plastics.