BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
VoL. 10, No. 8 
CamsBripGk, Massacuusetts, AuGcust 21, 1942 
WESTERN GUATEMALA A SECONDARY 
CENTER OF ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED 
MAIZE VARIETIES’ 
BY 
PauL C. MANGELSDORF AND JAMES W. CAMERON 
IN A PREVIOUS PUBLICATION Mangelsdorf and Reeves 
(18) advanced the tripartite hypothesis: 1. that cultivated 
maize originated from a wild form of pod corn which was 
once, and perhaps still is, indigenous to the lowlands of 
South America; 2. that Kuchlaena (teosinte), the closest 
relative of maize, is a recent product of the natural hy- 
bridization of Zea and Tripsacum which occurred after 
cultivated maize had been introduced by man into Cen- 
tral America; 8. that new types of maize originating 
directly or indirectly from this cross and exhibiting ad- 
mixture with Tripsacum comprise the majority of Cen- 
tral and North American varieties. 
The three parts of this hypothesis, although presenting 
an integrated picture of the origin of maize, are none- 
theless to some extent independent of each other. The 
actual discovery of wild pod maize, for example, while 
completely establishing the first postulate, would do no 
more than lend strong indirect support to the second and 
third. Overwhelming evidence that teosinte is a hybrid of 
maize and Tripsacum would not prove that the majority 
lr . . . A ° > * 
rhe investigations reported in this paper were financed in part by 
a grant from the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. 
The authors desire to express their sincere appreciation of this support. 
[ 217 ] 
Pree or 
