Plantae > Tracheophyta > Liliopsida > Poales > Poaceae > Zea > Zea mays
 

Zea mays (corn)

Synonyms: Mays americana; Mays vulgaris; Mays zea; Mayzea cerealis; Mayzea cerealis gigantea; Mayzea vestita; Thalysia mays; Zea alba; Zea altissima; Zea americana; Zea amylacea; Zea amyleosaccharata; Zea canina; Zea cryptosperma; Zea curagua; Zea erythrolepis; Zea everta; Zea gigantea; Zea glumacea; Zea gracillima; Zea hirta; Zea indentata; Zea indurata; Zea japonica; Zea macrosperma; Zea mays acuminata; Zea mays amylacea; Zea mays amyleosaccharata; Zea mays aorista; Zea mays ceratina; Zea mays everta; Zea mays gracillima; Zea mays hanakibi; Zea mays hirta; Zea mays huehuetenangensis; Zea mays indentata; Zea mays indurata; Zea mays japonica; Zea mays multicoloramylacea; Zea mays obtusa; Zea mays parviglumis; Zea mays pensylvanica; Zea mays praecox; Zea mays rugosa; Zea mays saccharata; Zea mays striatiamylacea; Zea mays subnigroviolacea; Zea mays tunicata; Zea mays variegata; Zea mays virginica; Zea mexicana parviglumis; Zea minima; Zea minor; Zea mucronata; Zea odontosperma; Zea oryzoides; Zea praecox; Zea rostrata; Zea saccharata; Zea segetalis; Zea tunicata; Zea vaginata; Zea vittata; Zea vulgaris

Wikipedia Abstract

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable or starch. The Olmec and Mayans cultivated it in numerous varieties throughout central and southern Mexico, cooked, ground or processed through nixtamalization.
View Wikipedia Record: Zea mays

Attributes

Height [2]  6.6 feet (2 m)
Screening - Summer [1]  Moderate
Screening - Winter [1]  Porous
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 10 Low Temperature: 30 F° (-1.1 C°) → 40 F° (4.4 C°)
Light Preference [3]  Mostly Sunny
Soil Acidity [3]  Neutral
Soil Fertility [3]  Rich
Soil Moisture [3]  Mostly Dry
Water Use [1]  High
Flower Color [1]  Yellow
Foliage Color [1]  Dark Green
Fruit Color [1]  Yellow
Fruit Conspicuous [1]  Yes
Bloom Period [1]  Early Summer
Drought Tolerance [1]  Low
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [1]  None
Flower Type [2]  Monoecious
Frost Free Days [1]  90 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [1]  High
Fruit/Seed Begin [1]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [1]  Summer
Growth Form [1]  Single Stem
Growth Period [1]  Summer
Growth Rate [1]  Rapid
Leaf Type [1]  Deciduous
Lifespan [2]  Annual
Pollinators [2]  Wind
Propagation [1]  Seed
Root Depth [1]  7 inches (20 cm)
Seed Spread Rate [1]  Slow
Seed Vigor [1]  High
Seeds Per [1]  1134 / lb (2500 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [1]  Erect
Structure [4]  Grass
Usage [2]  A glue is made from the starch in the seed; This starch is also used in cosmetics and the manufacture of glucose; A semi-drying oil is obtained from the seed; It has many industrial uses, in the manufacture of linoleum, paints, varnishes, soaps etc; The corn spathes are used in the production of paper, straw hats and small articles such as little baskets; A fibre obtained from the stems and seed husks is used for making paper; They are harvested in late summer after the seed has been harvested, they are cut into usable pieces and soaked in clear water for 24 hours. They are then cooked for 2 hours in soda ash and then beaten in a ball mill for 1˝ hours in a ball mill. The fibres make a light greenish cream paper; Be careful not to overcook the fibre otherwise it will produce a sticky pulp that is very hard to form into paper; The dried cobs are used as a fuel; The pith of the stems is used as a packing material;
Vegetative Spread Rate [1]  None
View Plants For A Future Record : Zea mays

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Map Climate Land Use
Algonquin Provincial Park IV 1868802 Ontario, Canada
Archipelago de Colon Biosphere Reserve 34336011 Galapagos Islands, Ecuador  
Avon Gorge Woodlands 376 England, United Kingdom
Big Cypress National Preserve V 732120 Florida, United States
Burnham Beeches 946 England, United Kingdom  
Canaveral National Seashore II 9090 Florida, United States
Carolinian-South Atlantic Biosphere Reserve 310228 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, United States      
Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve VI 921676 Ecuador  
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore II 8272 Indiana, United States
Lundy 7573 England, United Kingdom  
New Jersey Pinelands Biosphere Reserve   New Jersey, United States  
Palava Protected Landscape Area V   Czech Republic  
Santee Coastal Reserve and Washo Reserve State Habitat Area IV 20850 South Carolina, United States  
South Atlantic Coastal Plain Biosphere Reserve 20317 South Carolina, United States  
Valley Forge National Historical Park VI 3509 Pennsylvania, United States

Predators

Agriotes lineatus (lined click beetle)[5]
Agriotes obscurus <Unverified Name>[5]
Agriotes sputator <Unverified Name>[5]
Agrypnus variabilis <Unverified Name>[6]
Amazona oratrix (Yellow-headed Parrot)[7]
Aphis fabae (Bean aphid)[5]
Athous haemorrhoidalis <Unverified Name>[5]
Capitophorus archangelskii afghani[5]
Cerococcus indicus (yellow cotton scale)[8]
Cnephasia asseclana (Flax Tortrix Moth)[5]
Conoderus exsul[6]
Delia florilega (bean seed maggot)[5]
Delia platura (seedcorn maggot)[5]
Diabrotica virgifera (Western corn rootworm)[5]
Dilophus febrilis (Fever Fly)[5]
Dysmicoccus boninsis (citrophilus mealybug)[8]
Dysmicoccus brevipes (pineapple mealybug)[8]
Dysmicoccus neobrevipes (annona mealybug)[8]
Dysmicoccus trispinosus[8]
Eriophyes tulipae <Unverified Name>[5]
Frankliniella schultzei (Tomato thrip)[9]
Frankliniella williamsi[9]
Glischrochilus hortensis <Unverified Name>[5]
Helicoverpa armigera (cotton bollworm)[5]
Heterococcus nigeriensis[8]
Hippotion celerio (Grapevine hawk moth)[5]
Hymenia recurvalis <Unverified Name>[5]
Icerya aegyptiaca[8]
Lamprotornis purpureus (Purple Starling)[10]
Maconellicoccus hirsutus (pink hibiscus mealybug)[8]
Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Potato aphid)[5]
Mamestra brassicae (Cabbage Moth)[5]
Margarodes salisburiensis[8]
Melanotus punctolineatus <Unverified Name>[5]
Metopolophium dirhodum (Rose grain aphid)[5]
Metopolophium festucae[5]
Mythimna separata (Northern armyworm)[6]
Myzus ascalonicus (Shallot aphid)[5]
Oscinella frit (fruit fly)[5]
Oscinella pusilla[5]
Paracoccus marginatus[8]
Phyllotreta vittula <Unverified Name>[5]
Phytomyza nigra[5]
Pionus maximiliani (Scaly-headed Parrot)[11]
Planococcus minor (Pacific mealybug)[8]
Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi (banana mealybug)[8]
Pseudococcus sorghiellus (trochanter mealybug)[8]
Pulvinaria tenuivalvata (cottony grass scale)[8]
Rhopalosiphum maidis (Corn aphid)[5]
Rhopalosiphum padi (Oat aphid)[5]
Scaptomyza pallida[5]
Scopula emissaria[12]
Sipha glyceriae[5]
Sitobion avenae avenae[5]
Sitotroga cerealella (Angoumois grain moth)[5]
Spilococcus halli (Viktorin grass mealybug)[8]
Spodoptera littoralis (African Cotton Leafworm)[5]
Trionymus agrestis[8]
Trionymus internodii[8]
Trionymus radicicola[8]
Vrydagha lepesmei[8]
Zabrus tenebrioides[5]

Providers

Pollinated by 
Apis mellifera (honey bee)[13]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Criconema mutabile <Unverified Name>[12]
Filenchus exiguus <Unverified Name>[12]
Filenchus filiformis <Unverified Name>[12]
Helicotylenchus dihystera <Unverified Name>[12]
Helicotylenchus multicinctus[12]
Paratylenchus mutabilis <Unverified Name>[12]

Institutions (Zoos, etc.)

    Maps
Institution Infraspecies / Breed 
Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Distribution

Caribbean; North America;

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Photos

Citations

Species recognized by Govaerts R., 24-Oct-2006, WCSP: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families in Catalog of Life 2011
Attributes / relations provided by ♦ 1USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture ♦ 2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons License ♦ 3ECOFACT 2a Technical Annex - Ellenberg’s indicator values for British Plants, M O Hill, J O Mountford, D B Roy & R G H Bunce (1999) ♦ 4Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935 ♦ 5Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants ♦ 6New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Plant-SyNZ™ database ♦ 7Yellow-headed Amazon, BirdLife International (1992) Threatened Birds of the Americas. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International. ♦ 8Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009 ♦ 9Species of Frankliniella Trybom (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) from the Asian-Pacific Area, Chin-Ling Wang, Feng-Chyi Lin, Yi-Chung Chiu, and Hsien-Tzung Shih, Zoological Studies 49(6): 824-838 (2010) ♦ 10The Crop and Gizzard Food Contents of Purple Glossy Starling (Lamprotornis purpureus) in Jere and Konduga Local Government Areas of Borno State, Nigeria, S.D. YUSUFU AND Z.M. BELLO, Int. J. Agri. Biol., Vol. 6, No. 2, 2004, p. 270-271 ♦ 11Diet of the Scaly-headed Parrot (Pionus maximiliani) in a Semideciduous Forest in Southeastern Brazil, Mauro Galetti, BIOTROPICA 25(4): 419-425 1993 ♦ 12Species Interactions of Australia Database, Atlas of Living Australia, Version ala-csv-2012-11-19 ♦ 13Robertson, C. Flowers and insects lists of visitors of four hundred and fifty three flowers. 1929. The Science Press Printing Company Lancaster, PA.
Protected Areas provided by Biological Inventories of the World's Protected Areas in cooperation between the Information Center for the Environment at the University of California, Davis and numerous collaborators. ♦ GBIF Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Images provided by Google Image Search
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Weather provided by NOAA METAR Data Access
Institution information provided by Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway Ministry of Agriculture and Food - February 2013