Teosinte

teosinte: see corn, in botany.

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teosinte

Tall, stout, annual grass (Zea mexicana or Euchlaena mexicana) of the family Poaceae (or Gramineae), native to Mexico. Related to corn, teosinte grows in large clumps, producing bundles of fruiting spikes enclosed in husks and with silk hanging from the upper ends, similar to corn ears. Species of corn have recently been crossed with teosinte to produce a perennial variety of corn.

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Teosinte 

any one plant species of the genus Euchlaena of the family Gramineae. The most common species is E. mexicana, an annual reaching 3 m tall and resembling maize. The staminate spikelets are gathered into terminal panicles; the pistillate spike-lets are in small distichous ears located in the leaf axils. The fruit is a caryopsis. E. mexicana is found in Mexico, where it grows as a weed in corn plantings. Teosintes are cultivated in southern North America and various other regions for hay, as green feed, and sometimes as cereal plants.

REFERENCE

Zhukovskii, P. M. Kul’turnye rasteniia i ikh sorodichi, 3rd ed. Leningrad, 1971.