20 



COBN CROPS 



is supposed by some persons to be the true wild maize 

 and the progenitor of our cutivated maize. 



Watson and Bailey both studied this wild maize and 

 regarded it as a distinct species; however, since it has 

 been produced by hybridizing teosinte and maize, this 

 probably accounts for its origin. 



CLASSIFICATION OF MAIZE IN GROUPS 



Order — Gramineoe 

 Tribe — MaydecB 

 Genus — Zea 

 Species — Mays 



10. Maize may be classified into the following groups, 

 or " agricultural species " (after Sturtevant) : — 



1. Zea Maj/s canina (Watson), Maiz de Coyote. Said to 

 grow wild in Mexico, but the same type has been produced 

 artificially by crossing teosinte and common maize. 

 Characterized by a branching plant and by the production 



of numerous small ears in 

 the leaf axils of lateral 

 branches ; ears sometimes 

 clustered; 4 to 8 rows on 

 an ear, and ear 2 to 4 

 inches in length. 



2. Zea Mays tunicata, the 

 pod corns, Bui. Torrey Bot. 

 Club, 1904. 



Each kernel inclosed in 

 a pod or husk and the ear 

 inclosed in husks ; not com- 

 mon. All forms of kernel, as sweet, dent, flint, and 

 others, are found in pod corn. Occasionally a few podded 

 kernels will occur on ears of ordinary corn. It has been 



Fig. 5. — Pod corn. 



