NameThatPlant.net: Zea mays ssp. mays

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Commelinids: Poales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Zea mays ssp. mays FAMILY Poaceae Go to FSUS key

Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

Learn more about Zea from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

Corn was domesticated in Mexico over 10,000 years ago. Read more at "Edible Plants from the Americas".

Pistillate spikelets in dense axillary spikes (ears) surrounded by numerous foliaceous bracts (husks); rachis (cob) thick; styles (silk) exserted from bracts, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968)

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Zea mays ssp. mays FAMILY Poaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Zea mays ssp. mays

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 25 (2003)

Zea mays ssp. mays

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 029-91-001:

Zea mays FAMILY Poaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Grasses of the US (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950)

Zea mays

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Zea mays

COMMON NAME:
Corn, Maize

To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Zea mays ssp. mays, Corn, Maize

JK Marlow jkm230706_4364

July Spartanburg County SC

in cultivation

Staminate spikelets in a terminal, paniculate inflorescence, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

JK Marlow jkm230706_4365

July Spartanburg County SC

in cultivation

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Zea mays ssp. mays FAMILY Poaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Zea mays ssp. mays FAMILY Poaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Zea mays ssp. mays

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 25
Zea mays ssp. mays

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 029-91-001:
Zea mays FAMILY Poaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Grasses of the US (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950)
Zea mays

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Zea mays

4327

Grass, Sedge, or Rush
Annual
Monoecious

Habitat: Very commonly cultivated, rarely volunteering in old fields or around trashpiles, common in cultivation, rare as a short-lived escape, per Weakley's Flora

Non-native: Mexico

Rare

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate, 2-ranked

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Unisexual

Staminate spikelets in terminal panicles; pistillate in axillary spikes (ears)

FRUIT:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Grain - dense axillary spikes (ears) surrounded by foliaceous bracts (husks)

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!

Manual of the Grasses of the United States (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950) p794

"Common names should be written in lower case unless part of the name is proper and then the first letter of only the proper term is capitalized. For example, sugar maple would be written with lower case letters while Japanese maple would be written with the capital J. This is the accepted method for writing common names in scientific circles and should be familiar to the student. In this text, and many others, common names are written with capital first letters. This was done to set the name off from the rest of the sentence and make it more evident to the reader. Actually in modern horticultural writings the capitalized common name predominates." — Michael Dirr, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants

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