Arachis is a genus of about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the family (Fabaceae), native to South America, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic Pterocarpus clade of the Dalbergieae. At least one species, the peanut (Arachis hypogaea), is a major food crop species of global importance; some of the other species are cultivated for food to a small extent in South America. Other species such as A. pintoi are cultivated worldwide as forage and soil conditioner plants, with the leaves providing high-protein feed for grazing livestock and a nitrogen source in agroforestry and permaculture systems.
Arachis species, including the peanut, are used as food plants by some Lepidoptera species, including the flame shoulder, nutmeg, and turnip moth.
Species
Arachis comprises the following sections and species:
Section Arachis
Section Caulorrhizae
- Arachis pintoi Krapov. & W.C. Greg.
- Arachis repens Handro
Section Erectoides
Section Extranervosae
Section Heteranthae
- Arachis dardani Krapov. & W.C. Greg.
- Arachis giacomettii Krapov. et al.
- Arachis interrupta Valls & C. E. Simpson
- Arachis pusilla Benth.
- Arachis seridoensis Valls et al.
- Arachis sylvestris (A. Chev.) A. Chev.
Section Procumbentes
Section Rhizomatosae
- Arachis nitida Valls et al.
Series Prorhizomatosae
- Arachis burkartii Handro
Series Rhizomatosae
- Arachis glabrata Benth.
- var. glabrata Benth.
- var. hagenbeckii (Harms) F. J. Herm.
- Arachis pseudovillosa (Chodat & Hassl.) Krapov. & W.C. Greg.
Section Trierectoides
- Arachis guaranitica Chodat & Hassl.
- Arachis tuberosa Benth.
Section Triseminatae
- Arachis triseminata Krapov. & W.C. Greg.
Hybrids
- Arachis × batizogaea Krapov. & A. Fernández
References
External links
- Media related to Arachis at Wikimedia Commons
- Data related to Arachis at Wikispecies
- Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter: Morphological characterization of Arachis species of section Arachis
- Gimenes, Marcos A.; Lopes, Catalina R.; Valls, Jose F. M. (2002). "Genetic relationships among Arachis species based on AFLP". Genetics and Molecular Biology. 25 (3): 349. doi:10.1590/S1415-47572002000300017. hdl:11449/17937.
