CORIARIA 



CORN 



847 



black when ripe. Japan. B.M. 7509. G.F. 10:343 

 (adapted in Fig. 1057). S.I.F. 2:58. R.H. 1913, p. 79. 

 terminalis, Hemsl. Herbaceous or suffruticose, 2-3 

 ft.: branches quadrangular: Ivs. nearly sessile, broad- 

 ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 5-9-nerved, scabrous on the 

 veins beneath, 1-3 in.: fls. in terminal racemes on 

 shoots of the current year: fr. black. Sikkim, W. China. 

 Var. xanthocarpa, Rehd.& Wilson. Fr. yellow. Sikkim. 

 B.M. 8525. R.H. 1907:160. G.C. III. 34:282. J.H. 

 III. 49:443. F.S.R. 3:106. M.D. 1897:1. A very 

 ornamental plant, keeping its yellow fr. from July until 

 late in fall; being herbaceous, it is easier to protect 

 from frost than the former. Originally intro. into cult, 

 as C. nepalensis. 



C. himalayensis, Hort. Said to have persistent Ivs. and edible 

 frs. Possibly not different from C. nepalensis. C. myrtifdlia, 

 Linn. Shrub, 4-10 ft.: Ivs. 3-nerved, glabrous: fls. greenish, from 

 the old wood: fr. black, poisonous. Medit. region. Yields a black 

 dye. C. nepalensis, Wall. Shrub, 8-10 ft,: Ivs. 3-5-nerved, gla- 

 brous: fls. brownish: fr. black. Himalayas. C. sarmentdsa, Forst. 

 Suffruticose, procumbent: racemes axillary, on young branches. 

 B.M. 2470. The wineberry shrub of the natives. The berries 

 yield a pleasant drink, but the seeds are poisonous. Source of the 

 New Zeal, toot-poison, which is very destructive to human and 

 animal life. C. sinica, Maxim. Allied to C. japonica. Shrub to 

 18 ft.: Ivs. oval or broadly elliptic, abruptly short-pointed, 1^-3 

 in. long: fr. black. Cent. China. ALFRED REHDER. 



CORIS (ancient name, transferred). Primulacese. 

 Two low thyme-like herbs of S. Eu., sometimes planted 

 in rock-gardens, but apparently not in the trade. Lvs. 

 small, alternate, linear, spreading or recurved, the 

 margin revolute: fls. lilac or rose-purple, in terminal 

 densely-fld. racemes. C. monspeliensis, Linn., of the 

 Medit. region, is 6 in. high, much branching and 

 spreading, the sts. thickly covered with the little 

 narrow Ivs. 



CORK-TREE: Quercus. 

 C6RMUS: Sorbus. 



CORN, MAIZE (SWEET and POP). A tender 

 annual cultivated for its grain, which is used both for 

 human and live-stock food, and for the herbage which 

 is used as forage. As a horticultural crop, it is grown 

 primarily for the unripe grain or for pop-corn. 



The word maize, Spanish maiz, is derived from the 

 name Mahiz, which Columbus adopted for this cereal 

 from the Haytians. Maize has not yet been found 

 truly wild. Its close relationship to a native Mexican 

 grass called teosinte, Euchlcena mexicana, is indicated 

 by the known fertile hybrids between this species and 

 maize as pointed out by Harshberger. Teosinte and the 

 only other species which show close botanical relation- 

 ship to maize are indigenous to Mexico. In fact the 

 evidence all shows that maize is of American origin, 

 although its original form has not yet been dis- 

 covered, nor has its evolution from other types 

 been completely traced. DeCandolle concludes that 

 maize is not a native of the Old World but is of 

 American origin, and that it was introduced into 

 the Old World shortly after the discovery of the Jj 

 New, and then was rapidly disseminated. 



Very early in the exploration and settlement of '*_ 

 the New World, the whites learned from the natives 

 the use of maize as food. Several of the Indian 

 names for preparations of food from this cereal 

 were adopted or adapted by the settlers and passed 

 into the English language, as for example hominy, 

 samp, and succotash. In the English-speaking colo- 

 nies, maize was grown as a field crop under the 

 name Indian corn, but later the tendency was to 

 drop the word Indian so that this cereal is now 

 known in American agriculture and commerce by 

 the simple word corn. The word corn has thus come 

 to have a specific meaning on this continent which 

 does not attach to it in the British Isles. 



Corn now holds first rank among the agricultural 

 products of the United States, both in the area 



devoted to its cultivation and in the value of the annual 

 crop. The types known in garden culture in this coun- 

 try are the sweet corns and the pop-corns; the other 

 types, which are more strictly agricultural, may be 

 designated as field corns. Sweet corn and pop-corn are 

 also grown as field crops in comparatively limited 

 areas, the sweet corn either as a truck crop or for can- 

 ning, and the pop-corn to supply the demand for this 

 product in our domestic markets. Only the types of 

 sweet corn and pop-corn will receive attention in this 

 article. 



Botanical classification. 



Zea almost uniformly has been considered by botan- 

 ists as a monotypic genus, its one species being Zea 

 Mays. But Z. Mays is an extremely variable species, 

 including groups which are separated by definite char- 

 acteristics. As a working classification, that proposed 

 by Sturtevant is the best which has yet appeared. He 

 describes seven "agricultural species." These are Zea 

 tunicata, the pod corns; Z. everta, the pop-corns (Fig. 

 1058); Z. indurata, the flint corns; Z. indentata, the dent 

 corns; Z. amlyacea, the soft corns; Z. saccharata, the 

 sweet or sugar corns (Figs. 1058, 1059, 1060) ; Z. amylea- 

 saccharata, the starchy sweet corns. Z. canina, Wats., is 

 a hybrid form, as shown by Harshberger. Z. Mays, 

 Linn., belongs to the natural order of grasses or Grami- 

 nese. Culms 1 or more, solid, erect, 1^-15 ft. tall, or 

 more, terminated by a panicle of staminate fls. (the tas- 

 sel) : internodes grooved on one side: branches ear-bear- 

 ing or obsolete: Ivs. long, broad, channeled, tapering to 

 the pendulous tips, with short hyaline ligules and open 

 embracing sheaths: fls. monoecious, awnless, usually 

 proterandrous; staminate fls. in clusters of 24, often 

 overlapping; 1 fl. usually pedicelled, the other sessile 

 or all sessile; glumes herbaceous; palea membranace- 

 ous; anthers 3, linear. The ear contains the pistillate 

 fls. on a hard, thickened, cylindrical spike or spadix 

 (cob), which is inclosed in many spathaceous bracts 

 (husks); spikelets closely sessile, in longitudinal rows, 

 paired in alveoli with hard, corneous margin; fls. 2 on 

 a spikelet, the lower abortive; glumes membranaceous ; 

 style single, filiform, very long (silk); ovary usually 

 sessile: ear variable in length and size, often distich- 

 ous; grain variable in shape and size. The color ranges 

 from white through light and dark shades of yellow, red 

 and purple to nearly black. 



1058. Kernels of corn on the cob sweet corn behind, 

 pop-corn in front. ( X Yd 



