BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CamsripGak, Massacuusetts, Apri, 17, 1959 VoL. 18, No. 10 
THE ORIGIN OF CORN 
ITV. PLacre AnD TIME oF ORIGIN 
BY 
Pau. C. MANGELSDORF AND Ropert G. REEVES 
In regard to the origin of this plant, although there has never been 
room for reasonable doubt, there have been those who fancied there 
was room for argument. America is clearly and beyond question the 
native country of Indian corn. Yet, from the commencement of its 
history, writers have not been wanting to contest this point, and to 
claim for it an Eastern origin. The weight of authority and of argu- 
ment so entirely preponderates in favor of its American origin, that 
it is searcely worthwhile, in a work aiming to be useful rather than 
learned, to waste the time of the reader with idle and unprofitable 
speculation, Epwarp Enrietp (10). 
This statement which appeared almost a century ago 
in an otherwise undistinguished work is as true today as 
it was then. We supposed when, some twenty years ago, 
we wrote our monograph on the origin of Indian corn 
and its relatives (81) that there was one question — its 
place of origin, America or the Old World — which had 
been answered once and forall. It turns out that we were 
wrong; for although our monograph stimulated much 
useful interest in the problem of the origin of maize, it 
also opened a veritable Pandora’s box of unrestrained 
speculation on certain aspects of the problem. It has, 
as a consequence, become necessary once again to review 
the evidence pertaining to the question of corn’s place of 
origin. 
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