4. Peanuts: Flowers Above Ground, Harvest Below
A peanut plant can look like an unremarkable patch of leafy greenery. The interesting part is happening where you cannot see it. Although its flowers develop above ground, its peanut pods mature beneath the soil.
After a flower is fertilized, a structure called a peg grows downward and pushes into the earth. The developing fruit is at its tip. Once underground, it enlarges into a pod and the seeds inside mature into the peanuts you know. The plant effectively starts the process in the open air and finishes it out of sight.
That is why harvest photographs can be so satisfying: lifting a plant reveals the pods that were hidden underneath. They are fruits, not little root swellings like potatoes. Even knowing that peanuts grow underground does not quite prepare you for the mechanism. The flower has to send its future crop down into the dirt.
