| Lifespan: | ⌛ | annual |
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| Origin: | ✈ | N. America |
| Exposure: | ☼ | sun |
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| Features: | ✓ | edible grain"Edible grain" is not in the list (evergreen, deciduous, flowers, fragrance, edible, fruit, naturalizes, invasive, foliage, birds, ...) of allowed values for the "Features" property. |
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Poaceae > |
Teosinte > |
mays > |
Upright, strong, robust stalks produce smooth strap-like leaves. Pointed-tipped leaves are up to 36 in (90 cm) long. Feathery male flowers come in terminal panicles, while female flowers come in heads up to 8 in (20 cm) long, originating from leaf axils, and packed with yellow, white, or black shiny grains, up to 10 mm across, all enclosed within the leaves. These are known as "ears" of corn.
- More information about this species can be found on the genus page.
Cultivation
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- Do you have cultivation info on this plant? Edit this section!
Propagation
Seed.
Pests and diseases
Insect pests
- Corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea)
- Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda)
- Common armyworm (Pseudaletia unipuncta)
- Stalk borer (Papaipema nebris)
- Corn leaf aphid (Rhopalosiphum maidis)
- European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) (ECB)
- Corn silkfly (Euxesta stigmatis)
- Lesser cornstalk borer (Elasmopalpus lignosellus)
- Corn delphacid (Peregrinus maidis)
- Western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte)
The susceptibility of maize to the European corn borer, and the resulting large crop losses, led to the development of transgenic expressing the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin. "Bt corn" is widely grown in the United States and has been approved for release in Europe.
Diseases
- Corn smut or common smut (Ustilago maydis): a fungal disease, known in Mexico as huitlacoche, which is prized by some as a gourmet delicacy in itself.
- Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus
- Stewart's Wilt (Pantoea stewartii)
- Common Rust (Puccinia sorghi)
- Goss's Wilt (Clavibacter michiganese)
- Grey Leaf Spot
- Mal de Río Cuarto Virus (MRCV)
- Stalk and Kernal Rot
Species
Many forms of maize are used for food, sometimes classified as various subspecies:
- Flour corn — Zea mays var. amylacea
- Popcorn — Zea mays var. everta
- Dent corn — Zea mays var. indentata
- Flint corn — Zea mays var. indurata
- Sweet corn — Zea mays var. saccharata and Zea mays var. rugosa
- Waxy corn — Zea mays var. ceratina
- Amylomaize — Zea mays
- Pod corn — Zea mays var. tunicata
- Striped maize — Zea mays var. japonica
Gallery
Corn plants showing ears
Young stalks
Two teosintes said to be the parents of maize
Guila Naquitz Cave, site of the oldest known remains of maize
Field of maize in Liechtenstein
A corn heap at the harvest site, India
Multicolored varieties of maize
Exotic varieties of maize are collected to add genetic diversity when selectively breeding new domestic strains.
Corn shocks, or bundles, are a traditional harvest practice.
Corn male flower, a.k.a. corn tassel
Corn female flower, a.k.a. corn silk
References
External links
- w:Corn. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Corn QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)