Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Zea mays

Zea mays subsp. mexicana

corn, cultivated corn
Photo is of parent taxon

central-plateau teosinte, Chalco teosinte, nobogame teosinte
Habit Plants annual.
Culms

(0.5)1-3(6) m tall, (0.5)1-5 cm thick.

(0.5)1-3 m tall, (0.5)1-2(3) cm thick, unbranched when growing in corn fields to branched and with staminate inflorescences terminating the many branches when growing in the open.
Blades

mostly 30-90 cm long, 2.5-12 cm wide.

30-85 cm long, 3-8 cm wide.
Caryopses

concealed in fruitcases (wild taxa) or exposed (domesticated taxon);

fruitcases of wild taxa distichous, triangular in side view; domesticated taxon without fruitcases, glumes reduced and shallow or collapsed and embedded in the rachis.

concealed in the fruitcases.
Pistillate

inflorescences rames or spikes, usually shortly pedunculate (sometimes sessile), solitary, 4-30(40) cm long, (0.5)1-10 cm thick, with 2 or more rows of paired spikelets, hence the spikelets 4 or more ranked, rarely terminating in an unbranched staminate inflorescence.

inflorescences 5-8(10) cm long, 0.6-0.8 cm thick, distichous, with 2 rows of spikelets embedded in the rachis;

rachises disarticulating at maturity;

fruitcases (6)9-12(15), 6-10 mm long, 4-6 mm wide, triangular in side view, with pointed apices.
Staminate

panicles 10-25+ cm, with 1-60(235) branches, internodes 1.5-8.2 mm;

spikelets 9-14 mm long, 2.5-5 mm wide;

lower glumes rounded dorsally, flexible, translucent, papery, loosely enclosing the upper glumes, the 2 lateral veins subequal to the others, not winged.

panicles with 1-35+ ascending to divergent, somewhat stiff, disarticulating branches;

central axes of staminate panicles as slender as the lateral branches.; staminate spikelets (6.6)7.5-10.5 mm.
2n

= 20.

= 20.

Zea mays

Zea mays subsp. mexicana
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; PR; ON; QC; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Discussion

Of the five subspecies of Zea mays, only the domesticated subspecies, Z. mays subsp. mays, is widely grown outside of research programs. Three wild subspecies are treated here, albeit briefly, because of their importance as genetic resources for Z. mays subsp. mays.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Zea mays subsp. mexicana is a weedy taxon, native to upland Mexico. It is most abundant in the Meseta Central of the Mexican neo-volcanic plateau, at elevations of 1700-2500 m. It grows almost entirely in and around cornfields, and readily hybridizes with subsp. mays. The long-day tolerant 'Northern Teosinte' is the result of a series of backcrosses between such hybrids and the northernmost population of subsp. mexicana, 'Nobogame Teosinte'.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Pistillate inflorescences cylindrical spikes, 2-5(10) cm thick, with 8-24+ rows of spikelets pairs, each inflorescence tightly and permanently enclosed by several leaf sheaths and a large prophyll, not disarticulating at maturity; caryopses 60-1000+, not concealed by the glumes; staminate panicle branches not disarticulating below the sessile spikelets, lacking abscission layers; central axis of the staminate panicles polystichous, much thicker than the lateral branches; obligate domesticate
subsp. mays
1. Pistillate inflorescences cylindrical, distichous rames, less than 1 cm thick, with 2 rows of spikelet pairs, each rame usually enclosed by a single leaf sheath and a prophyll, disarticulating at maturity into fruitcases; caryopses 4-15, each one concealed within a fruitcase; staminate panicles composed of rames that disarticulate below the sessile spikelets and have evident abscission layers; central axis of the staminate panicles similar in width to the rames; in the Flora region, wild taxa are known only from research plantings.
→ 2
2. Staminate spikelets (6.6)7.5-10.5 mm long; fruitcases 6-10 mm long, 4-6 mm wide; staminate panicles with 1-35+ ascending to divergent, rather stiff branches
subsp. mexicana
2. Staminate spikelets 4.6-7.2(7.9) mm long; fruitcases 5-8 mm long, 3-5 mm wide; staminate panicles usually with 10-100(235) divergent to nodding branches.
→ 3
3. Leaves pubescent; staminate panicles with (2)10-100(235) branches
subsp. parviglumis
3. Leaves glabrous or almost so; staminate panicles usually with fewer than 40 branches
subsp. huehuetenangensis
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 701. FNA vol. 25, p. 703.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Zea Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Zea > Zea mays
Sibling taxa
Z. diploperennis, Z. luxurians, Z. perennis
Z. mays subsp. huehuetenangensis, Z. mays subsp. mays, Z. mays subsp. parviglumis
Subordinate taxa
Z. mays subsp. huehuetenangensis, Z. mays subsp. mays, Z. mays subsp. mexicana, Z. mays subsp. parviglumis
Synonyms Z. mexicana
Name authority L. (Schrad.) H.H. litis
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers