CHAPTER II 



itotanu mxb TJaralu'H 



^Si NDIAN corn belongs to the gramineae or grass 

 41 family. Botanically i* is known as Zea Mays. 

 vEJ This botanical name has a double meaning. 

 Zea is probably derived from two Greek words 

 meaning "I live" and "spelt," a grain with which 

 the Greeks were familiar. The word maize is derived 

 from the Haytian word "mahiz," which Columbus 

 adopted when in Hayti. The word corn as com- 

 monly used the world over means any kind of grain 

 used for food by man and animals. In the United 

 States, it is applied to maize alone. When Europeans 

 first landed in America and found this kind of 

 corn they used the prefix Indian to distinguish it 

 from the corn with which they were familiar in the 

 old world. The corn plants vary greatly in hight, 

 ranging from three to as high as sixteen or seventeen 

 feet, but the standard hight is from five to eight feet. 

 One main central stem bears the ears and long, broad, 

 tapering leaves. 



The plant is monoecious, that is, the male and 

 female flowers are borne separately. The male flowers 

 are borne on the tassels at the top of the stalk and pro- 

 duce the pollen. The pollen grains are produced about 

 the time the silks, or female flowers, develop. The 

 pollen is present in very great abundance, and it is 

 estimated that each plant produces as many as eighteen 

 million grains of pollen. The silks receive and retain 

 pollen until the grains are fertilized. Originally, em- 

 bryonic ears were probably produced at the juncture 



