WEATHERWAX: THE EVOLUTION OF MAIZE 315 
Fic, 7. An ear-bearing shoot of a high-grade dent corn. The prophylla have 
lost their laminae and ligules. Fic. 8. An ear branch bearing small lateral ears. 
meaning. When these secondary branches develop far enough, 
buds are formed in the axils of their prophylla, indicating the 
possibility of tertiary branches. 
The female spikelets are borne in pairs, 
sessile or almost so, on a thickened axis, the 
whole structure being the “ear.” The “cob” 
is the axis of the mature ear after the grains 
have been removed. Each row of pairs of 
spikelets is responsible for two rows of grains 
on the ear, thus accounting for the fact that an 
ear always has an even number of rows. The 
spikelets are two-flowered and have the same 
parts as those of the male inflorescence; but the 
whole lower flower of each is aborted, the lodi- 
cules are present only in early stages of develop- 
ment, and the stamens are aborted. The pistil wie ‘Aiea: 
of the upper flower is usually the only functional aie ear suggest- 
organ of either flower, but occasionally in any ing the relationships 
bet al 
plant, and as a fixed characteristic of some Ge sad tek Guisas 
varieties, the pistil of the lower flower may also spike of the tassel 
