Peanut Grass

Peanut Grass (Arachis pintoi) Supplier in the Philippines

Peanut grass is a flowering, shade-tolerant, nitrogen-fixing legume groundcover, Arachis pintoi (the pinto peanut), also sold as peanut creeper, golden glory, and mani-manian. It has clover-shaped four-leaflet leaves and bright yellow pea flowers over a dense, weed-smothering mat about 15 cm tall. It is a wild perennial relative of the edible peanut but produces no edible peanuts.

The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD, under DOST) names it a landscaper’s favorite for home gardens, institutions, theme parks, botanical gardens, golf courses, roadsides, resorts, and pathways. We supply it at ₱5 to 7 per rooted piece, as the cutting-grown Arachis pintoi, not the Florida rhizoma peanut. For shaded foliage cover see our mondo grass page; for walked-on lawns see frog grass and blue grass.

What Peanut Grass Is

Peanut creeper, peanut grass, and golden glory are all the same plant: Arachis pintoi. It is a low, creeping legume that spreads by aboveground runners (stolons) rooting as they go, forming a dense mat usually around 15 cm tall, studded with small bright yellow pea flowers. The two common names describe the same habit from two angles: it “creeps” (stolons) and it mats “like grass.” Locally it is also called mani-manian (Tagalog) and marketed as golden glory for the flowers.

Do not confuse it with two other things:

• The edible peanut (Arachis hypogaea). A different species: annual, upright, and it makes the peanuts you eat. Pinto peanut is perennial, creeping, and makes only tiny non-food underground pods.
• Clover. The leaves look clover-like, but peanut grass has 4 leaflets (clover has 3) and yellow pea flowers.

The Name Tangle (pintoi vs glabrata vs golden glory)

“Peanut grass” is easy; the trap is that several near-identical species share the trade names “perennial peanut,” “ornamental peanut,” and “golden glory,” and sellers mislabel them constantly. Three species are in play:

• Arachis pintoi (pinto peanut): spreads by aboveground stolons that root at the nodes, propagated by cuttings and division, flowers prolifically. The cheap per-piece PH ornamental. This is our plant.
• Arachis glabrata (rhizoma peanut, “Florida perennial peanut”): spreads only by underground rhizomes, installs as rhizome sod mats (not cuttings), more cold/drought hardy, flowers less. A different product with a different propagation model.
• Arachis repens: a stoloniferous ornamental, near-identical to pintoi, often lumped with it.

The “golden glory” name is the worst offender, applied to both pintoi and glabrata by different sellers, so the label alone tells you nothing, the propagation method does. That is why we confirm stock by habit, not by the tag.

How to Confirm Which Arachis You Have

Identify by propagation and habit, not the label:

• Spreads by aboveground runners that root at the nodes, and roots easily from stem cuttings → A. pintoi (or repens). The cheap, cutting-grown, per-piece nursery plant. This is the standard PH stock.
• No aboveground runners, spreads by underground rhizomes, sold as rhizome sod mats → A. glabrata (the Florida forage/turf type). Different plant, price, and install.
• Flowers heavily → leans pintoi. Pintoi flowers more freely than glabrata.
• Four leaflets, clover-look, yellow pea flowers, low creeping mat → genus Arachis confirmed (rules out actual clover and the upright edible peanut).

Botanical Identity

Accepted name Arachis pintoi Krapov. & W.C.Greg. (Fabaceae), described 1994 and named for Brazilian botanist Geraldo Pinto.¹ Native to central and eastern Brazil (Cerrado) and introduced across the wet tropics; not PH-native but long established and actively promoted here. The most common cultivar is ‘Amarillo’ (CIAT 17434), alongside the ornamental ‘Golden Glory’ selection.

It is a stoloniferous perennial: prostrate stems usually under 20 cm tall (older stems to 50 cm in dense stands), with a strong taproot plus many nitrogen-fixing nodulated roots. Leaves are tetrafoliolate (4 leaflets), glossy dark green, and fold up at night. Yellow pea flowers appear on short racemes; like the edible peanut, pollinated stalks bend down and set seed underground (geocarpy) in tiny one-seeded pods.

One honest flag: POWO tags the species “annual,” but every other authority and the plant’s own biology describe a long-lived stoloniferous perennial propagated vegetatively. We treat it as a perennial; the POWO “annual” tag appears to be a data error.¹

Why Specify Peanut Grass

It flowers. Bright yellow bloom over a green mat gives color a plain lawn cannot.

It takes shade. Among the most shade-tolerant warm-season legumes, it holds a flowering cover under trees and palms where turf thins out, and can grow more in shade than full sun (though it blooms best with decent light).²

It fixes its own nitrogen. A legume with root nodules, it is self-fertilizing, improves poor soil, and needs little to no nitrogen feeding, a selling point, not a gap.

It controls erosion and weeds. The dense mat plus deep roots hold slopes and verges and smother weeds once closed.

It is pet-safe and kid-safe. Non-toxic, grazed by livestock, pollinator-friendly, not on ASPCA toxic lists. A genuinely safer flowering groundcover than many ornamentals.

It carries a government endorsement. PCAARRD (DOST) names it a landscaper’s favorite for exactly the resort, golf, and institutional uses our clients build.³

Honest Limits

• Not for heavy foot traffic. Light to moderate only; not a play-field or sports surface.
• Slower than sod. Planted from rooted pieces, not instant sod, so coverage builds over weeks to months.
• It creeps. Edge beds and paths to contain it.
• Annona caution. Avoid as the groundcover directly under custard apple / atemoya (Annona) trees; a fungus that only nicks the peanut can seriously damage those trees.

Peanut Grass vs Other Groundcovers

• vs the turf grasses (frog grass/carabao, blue grass/zoysia, bermuda): peanut grass is a flowering legume, not a grass. It fixes nitrogen, flowers yellow, takes shade better, and needs little mowing, but it will not take heavy traffic or give the clean uniform lawn look. Use grasses for play lawns; peanut grass for low-input flowering cover, slopes, and shade.
• vs frog grass (dwarf carabao / Axonopus compressus): both are low and shade-tolerant, but frog grass is a walkable green turf, while peanut grass is a flowering broadleaf cover that fixes nitrogen and resists weeds better, at the cost of traffic tolerance.
• vs mondo grass: mondo is a clumping shade foliage groundcover with no real flowers and slow spread; peanut grass spreads faster, flowers, fixes nitrogen, and takes more sun. Different beds.
• vs Arachis glabrata (the other “perennial peanut”): glabrata spreads by rhizomes and installs as sod mats, is more drought/cold hardy, and flowers less. Pintoi is cheaper, cutting-grown, flowers more, and is the standard PH ornamental.

Care Highlights

• Water: keep moist while establishing; afterward water only in dry spells. Tolerates wet feet.
• Fertilizer: little to none, it fixes nitrogen. A light controlled-release feed once a season at most.
• Mowing/trimming: optional; it stays low on its own. Occasional mowing tidies it and can boost bloom.
• Weeds: the real job only during establishment; once the mat closes it self-suppresses weeds.
• Edging: it creeps, so edge beds and paths to contain it.
• Pests/disease: generally tough; slightly more prone to insects/nematodes than glabrata but not a serious problem in good conditions. Mind the Annona caution above.
• Light vs bloom: for more flowers in deep shade, thin the canopy above; foliage stays fine either way.

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