Collins: Teosinte in Mexico 



347 



laena and Tripsacum, but as soon as 

 the inflorescences appear the two 

 genera should not be confused by the 

 most casual observer. We found later 

 that the application of the name teo- 

 sinte to Tripsacum was wide-spread in 

 Mexico; for example, near the Ampara 

 mines in the State of Jalisco there is a 

 section of the country known by the 

 name of "Los Teosintes." The natives 

 say that the place is so called because 

 of the abundance of teosinte growing 

 in that locality. Here again the plant 

 to which they refer proved to be Trip- 

 sacum, and no Euchlaena could be 

 found in the region. 



This confusion of common names 

 makes it necessary to view with sus- 

 picion any localities assigned to teo- 

 sinte that are not substantiated by 

 herbarium specimens or adequate de- 

 scriptions of the plant. 



The fact that a broad-leaved Tripsa- 

 cum is known as ''Zacate Guatemal- 

 teco" and that it was introduced into 

 at least one locality in Mexico from 

 Guatemala makes it necessary to ques- 

 tion the statement that Euchlaena is 

 native in Guatemala. 



PERENNIAL TEOSINTE 



We next proceeded to Guadalajara 

 to attempt the location of the peren- 

 nial teosinte collection by Hitchcock 

 in 1910. The locality given on the 

 specimens in the National Herbarium, 

 collected by Hitchcock, is "in prairie, 

 along railroad, one mile south of the 

 railway station of Zapotlan, Jalisco." 

 We could locate no place in Jalisco 

 named Zapotlan until an old map 

 gave us the clue. Zapotlan had been 

 changed to Cuidad Guzman. This 

 city lies in a level valley surrounded 

 by mountains on all sides except the 

 south. The valley is perhaps twenty 

 miles long by ten in width and is one 

 large corn field divided by the railroad 

 right of way and the narrow lanes that 

 bound the fields allotted to the in- 

 dividual peons who grow the maize on 

 shares. It seemed a most unpromising 

 place to seek teosinte. The right of 

 way where it had not been mowed 

 recently was covered with a rank 



growth of sun-flowers, bidens, and 

 other plants among which were a few 

 grasses. Distances on the railroad were 

 marked in kilometers and although 

 there seemed little hope of finding teo- 

 sinte in this tangled vegetation we 

 began a very careful search after pass- 

 ing the first kilometer. At two and 

 one-half kilometers, or almost exactly 

 one mile, we found the plant we 

 sought — a few small clumps in a part 

 of the right of way that had been 

 mowed recently. 



That we were able to rediscover this 

 plant at all is a striking demonstration 

 of the importance of careful, system- 

 atic work and a tribute to Dr. Hitch- 

 cock's acumen as a collector and his 

 painstaking accuracy in recording local- 

 ities. We spent several days examin- 

 ing the country about Guzman, both 

 in the mountains and in the valley, 

 but were never able to find teosinte 

 more than a short distance from the 

 original station. Opposite the point 

 where it was first found it spreads into 

 the corn field as a weed, but is most 

 abundant in one of the narrow paths 

 leading through the field. An area 

 one mile square would include all the 

 plants we were able to find. 



It should be noted that nowhere in 

 Mexico did we find teosinte, either 

 annual or perennial, as a wild plant in 

 uncultivated areas. Its natural habi- 

 tat seems to be flat, alluvial lands and 

 since these are the very areas most 

 desirable for agriculture, it is perhaps 

 not to be expected that the plant 

 would be found remote from cultivated 

 regions. 



Another important factor which 

 tends to restrict teosinte cultivated 

 areas is the promptness with which it 

 is eradicated when the land is subject 

 to grazing. Both teosinte and Tripsa- 

 cum are sought eagerly by grazing 

 animals with the result that teosinte is 

 restricted to the cultivated areas that 

 are protected artificially from domestic 

 animals while Tripsacum is confined to 

 steep, rocky slopes and deep ravines 

 where it is out of the reach of grazing 

 animals. 



