WHAT IS AN EAR OF CORN? 



55 



WHAT IS AN EAR OF CORN? 



By E. G. MONTGOMERY 



THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 



TT is generally thought that corn (Zea mays) originated from some 

 -*- plant like teosinte (Euchlcena), and that the ear is the result of 

 the fusing together of a number of two-rowed pistillate spikelets, such 

 as are found in Euchlcena. Hackel 1 evidently holds this view, for he 

 describes the pistillate flowers of corn as being similar to those of 

 Euclilccna and borne on spikes, except that "the pistillate spikes (orig- 

 inally by monstrous or teratological development?) are grown together 

 into a spongy continuous club-shaped body (the 'cob') upon which 

 the four to eleven double rows (each sessile upon a low longitudinal 



Fig. 1. Photograph showing Steps of Evolution of the Corn Tassel into an Ear. 



elevation, that is limited by a long, shallow furrow on each side) cor- 

 respond to a single spike of Euclilccna." This view is also accepted 

 by Harshberger, 2 who made a careful study of the corn plant, and I 

 believe is the theory generally accepted as to the origin of the corn ear. 



1 Hackel, ' The True Grasses ' (trans, by Scribner and Southworth) , page 38. 



2 Maize, ' Contributions from the Botanical Laboratories of the University 

 of Pennsylvania, pp. 75-202, 1803. 



