408 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



32. ZE'A. L. Indian Corn. 



[Greek zao, to live ; from the sustenance it affords to animal life. 



Staminate spikelets in terminal, fascicled, spicate racemes, 2-flowered ; 

 glumes herbaceous, pubescent ; palece membranaceous, awnless : stamens 



278 277 



Fig. 275. A staminate spikelet, from the tassel of Indian Corn (Zea Mays). 276. The 

 pistillate spike or ear, with the involucre or husk removed ; the long styles of the nume- 

 rous crowded spikelets forming the silk. 277. A separate spikelet, showing the fertile and 

 Sterile floret enclosed in the glumes or chaff. 



