24 



BULLETIN" 925, u. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the appearance of the staminate spike was variable and not well differ- 

 entiated from normal ears. 



Table V. — Measurements of the first and second generation plants of a hybrid 

 between brachytic and Hopi. 



Height of plant decimeters. 



Length of longest tassel branch centimeters. 



Length of branching space do 



Length of central spike do 



Number of leaves: 



Above the upper ear 



Total 



Longest leaf: 



Length centimeters. 



Width do... 



Number of tassel branches 



Ear length: 



Upper ear centimeters. 



Total a do. . . 



Number of rows on upper ear 



Length of staminate spike centimeters. 



Dh 438F!. 



25. 9 ±0.28 



.28.8±0. 62 



14. 7± 0.33 



32. 6 ±0.60 



4. 1±0.07 

 19. 4 ±0.17 



90. 5 ±1.15 

 8. 7±0. 14 

 29. 8 ±0.98 



19.9±0.47 

 21. 9 ±0.78 

 18. 8 ±0.22 



Dh 438 F. 



Normal. Brachytic. Difference. 



23. 1 ±0.28 

 12.2 ±0.14 

 12. 5 ±0. 27 

 29.1 ±0.35 



23.0 ±0.40 

 28.9 ±0.70 



94.6 ±0.72 

 8.6 ±0.09 

 3. 79 ±0.05 



16.9 ±0.31 

 20. ±0. 53 

 16.6 ±0.20 

 62.3 



10.2 ±0.23 

 5.1 ±0.25 



10.4 ±0.35 



31.3 ±0.87 



22.7 ±0.56 

 22.1 ±1.10 



91.5 ±0.87 

 8.7 ±0.16 

 1. 50±0.31 



10.1 ±0.67 

 21.7 ±1.2 



15.2 ±0.39 



12.3 ±1.5 



12.9 ±0.36 



7.1 ±0.29 

 2. 1 ±0.44 



2.2 ±0.94 



0.3 ±0.69 

 6.8 ±1.30 



3.1 ±1.14 

 0.1 ±0.18 

 2. 29 ±0.31 



6.8 ±0.74 

 1.7 ±0.56 

 1.4 ±0.44 

 10.0 



a The total ear length includes only the length of the pistillate portion on those ears which developed 

 staminate spikes. 

 6 Only three plants. 



The brachytic plants of the Hopi hybrid also differed from the 

 brachytic segregates of other hybrids in that the ears were borne in 

 the axils of the uppermost leaves, or in extreme cases appeared as the 

 lowest branches of the terminal inflorescences. This tendency to 

 have ears at the base of the tassel is one which has been observed 

 often in plants of the Chinese waxy variety and also in hybrids in- 

 volving this type. (PL XVII.) Its appearance, therefore, in the 

 brachytic-Hopi hybrid is not to be attributed to the same genetic 

 change which caused the reduction in length of internode on the 

 culm, although its expression in this hybrid was confined to brachytic 

 plants. 



Like most variations in maize, this tendency is inherited. Seven 

 plants were grown from a self-pollinated ear of a Chinese plant 

 which had produced ears at the base of the tassel. All seven of these 

 plants showed evidence of this trait. On three of these plants the 

 only symptom was a cluster of bracts at the base of the tassel ; one 

 plant, in addition to these bracts, had scattered pistillate spikelets on 

 the lower tassel branches; another plant similar to the parent de- 

 veloped an ear at the base of the tassel; while the two remaining 

 plants both had ears borne in the normal position, but terminating in 

 staminate spikes. 



The character is expressed in a variety of forms, sometimesap- 

 pearing simply as a group of pistillate spikelets at the base of an 

 otherwise normal staminate branch, and at other times well-formed 

 ears with regular rows and not much smaller than those borne in the 



