8 THE BOOK OF CORN 



Zea amylacea, the soft corns. This species group 

 is at once recognized by the absence of corneous endo- 

 sperm. Through the uniformity of the shrinkage in 

 ripening there is usually no indentation, yet in some 

 varieties an indentation may more or less frequently 

 appear, but splitting the kernel infallibly determines 

 this class. This group includes the Cuzco, the largest 

 kerneled variety as yet known. 



Zea saccharata, the sweet corns. A well defined 

 species group characterized by the translucent, horny 

 appearance of the kernels and their more or less 

 crinkled, wrinkled, or shriveled condition. 



Zea amylea-saccharata, the starchy-sweet corns. 

 This species is founded upon the varieties found in the 

 San Padro Indian collection of Dr Palmer. The exter- 

 nal appearance of the kernel is that of a sweet, but 

 examination shows that the lower half of the kernel is 

 starchy, the upper half horny and translucent. These 

 varieties have all a white cob, the kernels deeper than 

 broad. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF DENT CORN 



Zea Mays (Indian corn) is separated into six gen- 

 eral groups,* representing different species. These 

 groups are as follows : 



I — Zea tunicata, the pod corns. 



Sub-group A, kernel broader than deep. 

 Sub-group B, kernel as deep as broad. 

 Sub-group C, kernel deeper than broad. 



II — Zea everta, the pop corns. 



Sub-groups A, B and C as above. 



Ill — Zea indurata, the flint corns. 

 Sub-groups A, B and C as above. 



♦Bulletin No 57, Sturtevant, United States department of agriculture 



