HARVARD 
UNIVERS aa 
LIBR SY 
BOTANICAL’ MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
Camnniper, Massacuuserrs, Ocroner 25, 1946 Vou. ao mor! 8 
RACES OF MAIZE IN SOUTH AMERICA 
BY 
Hueu C. Cur Ler’ 
SoutH AMERICAN highland maize has long attracted 
attention because it differs so greatly from the maize 
commonly grown in North America and Europe. Fol- 
lowing the discovery of teosinte, Mexico and Central 
America were considered of greater importance in the 
study of the origin and evolution of maize. Interest in 
South America as the original home of maize, however, 
has been renewed since Mangelsdorf and Reeves pub- 
lished their tripartite hypothesis (1939): that maize 
originated in South America; that Euchlaena is a re- 
cent hybrid of maize and Tripsacum produced in Central 
America by the crossing of cultivated maize with native 
Tripsacum; and that the addition of Tripsacum germ- 
plasm to maize produced the types of maize which are 
now most common in Central and North America. With 
their hypothesis as a basis it has been possible to carry 
on a program of study and experimentation which has 
led to a more complete knowledge of the composition 
and distribution of South American maize and related 
grasses, and to further evidence which has a bearing on 
the origin and dispersal of maize. Since 1989 a surprising 
1 Research Associate, on leave, Botanical Museum of Harvard Uni- 
versity. This work is part of that carried on while a Fellow of the 
Guggenheim Foundation, 1942-1943. 
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