kempton: ancestry of maize 9 



understanding it seems doubtful whether Weatherwax has 

 found branches in the axils of the prophylla enclosing branches 

 of pod corn. It has to be considered also that the significance 

 of such a phenomenon depends in a large measure on the fre- 

 quency of its occurrence. It may be expected that in course of 

 time and by examining a sufficiently large number of plants 

 an industrious morphologist would find an example of pod corn 

 with branches in the axils of prophylla, though as yet none has 

 been observed. 



There is apparently also a similar misunderstanding with 

 respect to the "mixed inflorescences" in teosinte. Collins states 

 in effect that he has never observed pistillate flowers in the male 

 panicle or staminate flowers in the female inflorescences of 

 Euchlaena. It is not quite clear from Weatherwax 's contradic- 

 tion of this statement whether he refers to the panicle termina- 

 ting the main culm or to the panicles terminating primary, 

 secondary, tertiary, or branches of higher order. In examining 

 several thousand plants of the commercial teosinte of Florida 

 we have never found even an indication of pistillate flowers 

 in the tassels of the main culms, and their occurrence in the 

 tassels of basal primary branches is rare. Pistillate spikelets, 

 however, are common in the terminal inflorescences of secondary 

 branches and branches of a higher order. This point is im- 

 portant, since in both maize and teosinte the branches are less 

 specialized than the main culms. Unless great care is exercised 

 in growing plants, confusion is likely to arise between branches 

 and main stalks. Unfavorable climatic conditions in the early 

 stages of growth will often result in the abortion or only partial 

 development of the main culm. This abortion of the main 

 culm will not be detected at maturity unless the plants have been 

 marked. While it may be that Weatherwax has actually found 

 pistillate spikelets in the main panicle of the central culm, in 

 view of the possibilities of error his statement should be accepted 

 with reservation until more definitely substantiated. 



With respect to the occurrence of flowers of both sexes in the 

 female inflorescence, it is apparent that Weatherwax is again 

 confusing two separate and distinct phenomena. Investigators 



