104 



THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



239. Pod Maize. — In this type of maize each grain is covered 

 with a husk in addition to the ear itself being so covered. The 

 plant is excessively leafy, the tassels usually 

 heavy and inclined to produce grains. The 

 plant suckers abundantly. The grains may 

 be of any of the types of maize hereafter 

 described, suggesting 

 that this was the prim- 

 itive type from which 

 they have been de- 

 rived, and also, that 

 the differentiation into 

 these types occurred 



Pod maize : one-third natural size. 



before the podded character became 

 abortive. Reversion is now occasion- 

 ally seen in cultivated fonns. Pod 

 maize is rarely grown even as a 

 curiosity. 



240. Pop Maize is that type in 

 which all or almost all of the endo- 

 sperm is glossy or corneous. Some- 

 times, perhaps usually, there is a thin 

 layer of white or soft endosperm 

 around the embryo. The grain is 

 usually an elongated oval in outline 

 and extremely hard. The only type 

 with which it can be confused is the 

 flint. The small size of the grain and 

 its property of "popping " makes iden- 



Flint nnaize: ear one-third natura' 

 size ; grain about natural size 



