#legumes

• Arachis — A genus of annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the Fabaceae family, native to South America and remarkable for the phenomenon of geocarpy, a process by which flower stalks curve after fertilization and push their fruits into the soil to mature. The genus includes over 80 scientifically described species, the most economically and agriculturally significant being the species cultivated for peanuts.
• Arachis hypogaea — The scientific binomial name of the peanut (groundnut), an annual plant in the Fabaceae family intensively cultivated worldwide for its highly nutritious oilseeds. The species is remarkable because, following the pollination of its yellow aerial flowers, the stalk elongates downward, pushing the fertilized ovary into the ground, where the woody pods develop and shelter the seeds rich in lipids and proteins.
• Peanut — An annual herbaceous plant in the Fabaceae family, commonly known as the groundnut or peanut, cultivated worldwide in warm zones for its underground woody pods. The fruit (peanut) contains seeds exceptionally rich in fatty vegetable oils and proteins, holding massive economic importance in the agri-food industry, for peanut butter manufacturing, refined oil extraction, baking, and direct snacking.
• Bacteroid — A modified, enlarged, and often branched form adopted by nitrogen-fixing bacterial cells (such as Rhizobium) after entering the host cells within the nodules of legume plants. Physiologically, the bacteroid stage represents the active metabolic phase where the microorganism loses its rigid cell wall and begins synthesizing the nitrogenase enzyme complex responsible for nitrogen fixation.