Corn Plant

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Corn or Maize, common name for the cereal grass widely grown for food and livestock fodder. Corn ranks with wheat and rice as one of the world’s chief grain crops.

The corn plant has an erect, solid stem, rather than the hollow one of most other grasses. It varies widely in height, some dwarf varieties being little more than 60 cm (2 ft) at maturity, whereas other types may reach heights of 6 m (20 ft) or more. The average is 2.4 m (8 ft). The leaves, which grow alternately, are long and narrow. The main stalk terminates in a staminate (male) inflorescence, or tassel. The tassel is made up of many small flowers termed spikelets, and each spikelet bears three small anthers, which produce the pollen grains, or male gametes. The pistillate (female) inflorescence or ear is a unique structure with up to 1,000 seeds borne on a hard core called the cob. The ear is enclosed in modified leaves called husks. The individual silk fibers that protrude from the tip of the ear are the elongated styles, each attached to an individual ovary. Pollen from the tassels is carried by the wind and falls onto the silks, where it germinates and grows down through the silk until it reaches the ovary. Each fertilized ovary grows and develops into a kernel.

Scientific classification: Corn is classified as Zea mays. The perennial wild corn thought to be extinct and rediscovered in Mexico is classified as Zea diploperennis.

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