16 CORN CROPS 



southern Mexico at an elevation of about 4500 feet. 

 In tliis region, plants of Zea canina are found growing wild ; 

 it is also the native habitat of teosinte and gama grass, 

 two plants closely related botanically to maize. Harsh- 

 berger concludes that maize probably came into cultiva- 

 tion in this region about the beginning of the Christian 

 Era and spread rapidly both north and south, reaching 

 the Rio Grande about 700 a.d., and the coast of Maine 

 not later than the year 1000. 



When Columbus visited America in 1492, maize was in 

 common cultivation. It was at once introduced into 

 other parts of the world, reaching Europe, Africa, China, 

 and Asia Minor early in the sixteenth century. Its early 

 culture in the Eastern Hemisphere seems to have been 

 confined mostly to the countries bordering on the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea. 



Maize acquired many names in Europe, such as Spanish 

 corn, Roman corn, Guinea corn, Turkish wheat, Egyptian 

 corn ; these names probably indicate the places where its 

 culture first became extensive. 



9. Biological origin. — The Gramineae, or grass family, 

 includes most of our common cereals, as maize, oats, 

 wheat, and rye. A distinguishing feature of the tribe 

 Maydece, to which maize belongs, is the separation of its 

 staminate flowers (pollen-bearing) from its pistillate 

 flowers (seed-bearing). Two grasses related to maize 

 and of common occurrence in Mexico — the region in 

 which corn is supposed to have originated — are gama 

 grass {Tripsacum dactyloides) and teosinte {Euchlosna 

 Mexicana) . 



Gama grass is distributed also over the southern half 

 of the United States and usually is found on low, rich 

 soil. At a distance a patch of this grass looks very much 



