Portuguese explorers transplanted it to Africa, and from there it was brought to America as an inexpensive, high-protein staple, later to be consumed by soldiers during the Civil War. George Washington Carver is considered by many to be the father of the peanut industry. He began his peanut research in 1903. He suggested to farmers that they rotate their cotton plants and cultivate peanuts. Peanuts, along with beans and peas, belong to the single plant family, Leguminosae.
Legumes are edible seeds enclosed in pods.
As a group, they provide the best source of concentrated protein in the plant kingdom. While their physical structure and nutritional benefits more closely resemble that of other legumes, their use in diets and cuisines more closely resembles that of nuts. The flowers pollinate themselves and then lose their petals as the fertilized ovary begins to enlarge. The budding ovary or 'peg' grows down away from the plant, extending to the soil. The peanut embryo turns horizontal to the soil surface and begins to mature, taking the form of the peanut.