UNUSUAL FORM OF MAIZE. 5I 



hermaphrodite flowers. This, I think, is purely speculative. 

 In referring to my notes on corn, I find three references which 

 are of interest in comparing them with the unusual form of 

 plant found on the grounds of Dr. Furness. The first 

 (Science, Sept. 29, 1883) was a stalk of corn found at Free- 

 port, Illinois, by O. H. Hershey, in which the stalk failed to 

 develop any ears in the axils of the leaves, but instead a 

 single spike of pistillate flowers (an ear) at the end of the 

 central pedicel of the tassel. This ear was about three inches 

 in length, and apparently well formed, except that it lacked 

 the glumes. The styles were perfectly developed, and six 

 inches to a foot in length. The places of a few of the grains 

 were occupied by staminate flowers. The second, " Queer 

 Growth of Corn " (St. Nicholas, March, 1909, p. 462), was 

 found at Upper Montclair, N. J., and was photographed to 

 show a single median ear and two smaller lateral ones. The 

 third case, found at Greenport, New York, was described in 

 Meehan's Monthly (Nov., 1895, Volume Y), and the sugges- 

 tion there made by Mrs. Kellerman is perhaps the safest con- 

 clusion which may be reached as to these three unusual forms 

 of corn, including the one found on the demesne of Dr. 

 Horace Howard Furness, at Wallingford. Mrs. Kellerman is 

 quoted as follows : — "I would say that the primitive Indian 

 corn was a grass-like plant, with a branch springing from the 

 several nodes or joints. Each branch was crowned with 

 both staminate and pistillate organs. Natural selection lifted 

 the staminate flowers to the tassel of the main stalk, and left 

 the pistillate below on the side branches. These branches 

 became shortened, and form the shank or footstalk of our 

 present ear." The leaves also became crowded to form the 

 overlapping husks. I would present as my conclusions of 

 the study of maize a somewhat different description of the 

 original wild form of corn, based on a studv of the normal 

 and abnormal conditions. 



The original corn was a tall, semi-tropic grass, with 

 broad, two-ranked leaves, in the axils of which were found 



