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Maize / m eɪ z / (Zea mays), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native Americans planted it alongside beans and squashes in the Three Sisters polyculture.
Maize (Zea mays) is further divided into four subspecies: Z. m. huehuetenangensis, Z. m. mexicana, Z. m. parviglumis (Balsas teosinte, the ancestor of maize), and Z. m. mays. [4] The first three subspecies are teosintes; the last is maize, or corn, [4] the only domesticated taxon in the genus Zea. [citation needed]
These two plants provide complementary dietary amino acids. Improved bioavailability of maize was discovered using a special process involving limewater, which also added calcium. Maize is also associated with festival and feast foods. Before it was domesticated and became a main crop, maize was used as a basis for beer.
Maize, beans, and squash, whether grown individually or together, have a very long history in the Americas. [5] The process to develop the agricultural knowledge for cultivation took place over a 5,000 to 6,500 year period. Squash was domesticated first, with maize second and beans third.
Cereals that became modern barley and wheat were domesticated some 8,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent. [5] Millets and rice were domesticated in East Asia, while sorghum and other millets were domesticated in sub-Saharan West Africa, primarily as feed for livestock. [6] Maize arose from a single domestication in Mesoamerica about 9,000 ...
Flint corn (Zea mays var. indurata; also known as Indian corn or sometimes calico corn) is a variant of maize, the same species as common corn. [1] Because each kernel has a hard outer layer to protect the soft endosperm, it is likened to being hard as flint, hence the name. [2]
Maize (Zea mays) found its way to South America from Mesoamerica, where wild teosinte was domesticated about 7000 BC and selectively bred to become domestic maize. Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 4200 BC; another species of cotton was domesticated in Mesoamerica and became by far the most important species of cotton in the textile industry ...
This map shows the sites of domestication for a number of crop plants. Places, where crops were initially domesticated, are called centers of origin. This is a list of plants that have been domesticated by humans. The list includes individual plant species identified by their common names as well as larger formal and informal botanical ...