| WHAT IS AN EAR OF CORN? |
By E. G. MONTGOMERY
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
IT is generally thought that corn (Zea mays) originated from some plant like teosinte (Euchlæna), and that the ear is the result of the fusing together of a number of two-rowed pistillate spikelets, such as are found in Euchlæna. Hackel[1] evidently holds this view, for he describes the pistillate flowers of corn as being similar to those of Euchlæna and borne on spikes, except that "the pistillate spikes (originally by monstrous or teratological development?) are grown together into a spongy continuous club-shaped body (the 'cob') upon which the four to eleven double rows (each sessile upon a low longitudinal
Fig. 1. Photograph showing Steps of Evolution of the Corn Tassel into an Ear.
elevation, that is limited by a long, shallow furrow on each side) correspond to a single spike of Euchlæna." This view is also accepted by Harshberger,[2] who made a careful study of the corn plant, and I believe is the theory generally accepted as to the origin of the corn ear.
