Origin of Maize

Abstract

THERE have been three general theories regarding the origin of maize: (1) that it originated from pod-corn, Zea mays tunicata, which differs from normal maize primarily by a single dominant gene governing the development of a brittle, disarticulating rachis and the production of prominent glumes enclosing the seeds; (2) that maize originated from teosinte, Euchlæna mexicana, a wild grass native to Guatemala and Mexico, by direct selection, by large-scale mutations or by the hybridization of Euchlæna with a grass now unknown; (3) that Zea, Euchlæna and Tripsacum, the three American Maydeae, have descended along divergent and independent lines from a remote common ancestor.