A NEW SUBSPECIES OF ZEA MAYS L. 



DR. WALTER B. GERNERT 



University of Illinois 



While harvesting a plot of yellow dent corn, a strain of the 

 Learning variety grown on the Illinois Agricultural Experiment 

 Station fields in 1909, one of the workmen found a peculiarly 

 shaped ear which was laid aside in the drying-room as a cu- 

 riosity. The corn in which this ear was found came from a 

 strain that had been subjected for several generations to an 

 ear-row selection for high protein content by a mechanical in- 

 spection of the endosperm. 1 



This new type of ear which reproduces faithfully in its prog- 

 eny is cone-shaped in outline and gives the appearance ex- 

 ternally of being composed of a mass of kernels borne on num- 

 erous irregular branches (see "a" in the figure). A longitu- 

 dinal section (at "6") displayed kernels throughout the ear. 



The "branched" form is a prolification of the fleshy type of 

 4 to 30 or more-rowed cob common to all varieties that to the 

 writer's knowledge have been described to date. For this new 

 type the writer proposes the name Zea ramosa, from the Latin 

 "ramosus— having many branches." This name is proposed 

 in conformity with the bi-nomial classification of Sturtevant 2 

 which is now generally recognized. We will not here discuss 

 the precedence nor the desirability of Sturtevant 's nomencla- 

 ture for the subspecies of corn which were all grouped at first 

 by Linnaeus under the general head Zea mays. 



The new type Z. ramosa (branched) is as much deserving of 

 a specific name as are any of the six groups recognized by Stur- 

 tevant, namely: tunicata (pod), everta (pop), indurata (flint), 

 indentata (dent), amylacea (soft), saccharata (sweet). The 

 first of these six groups has a more or less monstrous develop- 

 ment of glumes into pods which inclose each kernel on the ear 

 with leafy bracts known as the husks. The classification of the 

 other five groups is based on differences in characters situated 

 m the endosperm of the kernel. 



1 Kepresentative 



ve samples of the ears thus obtained for planting in the 

 also analyzed chemically to determine the efficiency of the 

 lanical selection. 



57: 



1809. 

 616 



