CORN

Corns have adapted to a whole range of conditions. More than 300 varieties of corn were grown in America before the arrival of white settlers.
The five different types of corn are:
Dent – has a small depression on top of the kernel caused by the core (endosperm) shrinking; long and hard kernels are used for cracking and grinding into live stock meal;
Flint – is the hardest of all corn as its endosperm is all callous; the hard round kernels are used for rolling into cornflakes and corn meal such as polenta;
Flour – has an endosperm made up entirely of soft opaque starch; the thin skinned kernels are easy to mill into flour;
Pop – is the most primitive with up to six side shoots (tillers) and can produce up to sixteen small cobs; the plump, hard, small kernels have air bubbles trapped inside which pop when heated; the immature cobs of miniature forms are used as baby corn by the Chinese;
Sweetcorn – was known amongst the Mandan, Iroquois and other Indian tribes, but has achieved widespread usage amongst white people. All types of corn can be eaten when young, that is, at the milky stage, although sweetcorn is preferred for this by most people. Only in the last hundred and fifty years has sweetness, tenderness and a high water content been bred into sweetcorn. When dried, sweetcorn seeds are very shrivelled in comparison to the other types.
Commercial hybridization of corn began in the USA in the 1940's.

Plant Names
Botanical Family: 
GRAMINEAE
Common Name: 
CORN
Genus: 
Zea
Species: 
mays
About the Name: 

zea comes from the Latin zao "to live" and was given by Linnaeus; mays is the Mexican name for maize.

Origins: 

The Andes. All corns have a common ancestor, teosinte, a tall grass with narrow ears that was discovered in Mexico in only 1977 by a team of scientists. Trading amongst Indian tribes slowly spread corn from the Andes to North America and records show its use for thousands of years by the Incas, Aztecs and American Indians.
When the French explorer Jacques Cartier arrived in Canada's Hudson Bay in 1540, maize was already there and beans were climbing amongst it. In many American Indian tongues, maize and life have the same word. Some of their legends maintain that we were transformed from animals into humans by cultivating maize. Most groups had traditional varieties which they considered gifts from the Gods.
Columbus introduced corn to Europe and by 1600 it was very well accepted, unlike the potato and the tomato. Less than a century after the re-discovery of America, corn was reported to be available on all markets in Lombardy and Venice.
There is evidence that maize was introduced to Africa before Columbus' time (Jeffreys in Annual of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1965) either by Arabs or the Africans themselves.

Plant Description: 

Corns have adapted to a whole range of conditions. More than 300 varieties of corn were grown in America before the arrival of white settlers.
The five different types of corn are:
Dent – has a small depression on top of the kernel caused by the core (endosperm) shrinking; long and hard kernels are used for cracking and grinding into live stock meal;
Flint – is the hardest of all corn as its endosperm is all callous; the hard round kernels are used for rolling into cornflakes and corn meal such as polenta;
Flour – has an endosperm made up entirely of soft opaque starch; the thin skinned kernels are easy to mill into flour;
Pop – is the most primitive with up to six side shoots (tillers) and can produce up to sixteen small cobs; the plump, hard, small kernels have air bubbles trapped inside which pop when heated; the immature cobs of miniature forms are used as baby corn by the Chinese;
Sweetcorn – was known amongst the Mandan, Iroquois and other Indian tribes, but has achieved widespread usage amongst white people. All types of corn can be eaten when young, that is, at the milky stage, although sweetcorn is preferred for this by most people. Only in the last hundred and fifty years has sweetness, tenderness and a high water content been bred into sweetcorn. When dried, sweetcorn seeds are very shrivelled in comparison to the other types.
Commercial hybridization of corn began in the USA in the 1940's.

Variety Notes: 

?? Golden Cross Bantam is a sweetcorn that tends to send several side shoots. It was a very popular variety suitable for early, mid-season and late planting. It matures in ninety days. Country Gentleman is a white sweetcorn, quite late, with deep, narrow non-aligned rows of kernels. Hickory King is a white Dent corn, also used as a Sweetcorn when picked young. The Red Mandan matures in sixty days and suits areas with a short growing season.
In the same category is the Ontos popcorn which is grown in the southern Snowy Mountains. It is a white corn presumably brought in from the USA. It pops well and like all popcorn is great as a chook food. Julie Firth has successfully grown mini red popcorn in Waggrakine, WA. She harvested up to fifteen immature baby corn cobs on the one plant as there are several stems.

Quarantine: Regulations apply within Australia for moving corn seed, the major reason being to prevent the spread of boil smut. Information on areas of quarantine is available from your Department of Agriculture.

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