Zea L.

Corn (en), Maïs au sens large (fr)

Genus

Angiosperms > Poales > Poaceae

Characteristics

Annual. Culms robust, often tall with stilt roots, solid. Leaf blades large, broadly linear; ligule membranous. Inflorescences terminal and axillary, spikelets unisexual, separated into male and female inflorescences, not disarticulating at maturity, spikelets of a pair alike. Female inflorescence axillary, enclosed in enveloping foliaceous sheaths; spikelets all sessile in many longitudinal rows, partially sunk in the thickened, almost woody axis, glumes and lemmas chaffy, awnless, lower floret sterile; styles single, very long, silky, pendulous from inflorescence apex. Male inflorescence terminal, of many digitate or paniculate racemes; one spikelet of a pair subsessile, the other on a slender pedicel, papery, awnless, both florets staminate. Mature caryopses plump, much larger than spikelet scales, very variable in shape and color. x = 5.
More
Spikelets unisexual; staminate spikelets 2-flowered, in pairs on one side of a continuous rachis, one nearly sessile, the other pedicellate; glumes membranaceous, acute; pistillate spikelets sessile, in pairs, consisting of 1 fertile and 1 sterile floret, the latter sometimes developed as a second fertile floret; glumes broad, rounded or emarginate at apex; sterile lemma similar to the fertile, the palea present; style very long and slender, stigmatic along both sides well toward the base.
Life form annual
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) -
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
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Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
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Hardiness (USDA) 5-12

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 5 - 14
Germination temperacture (C°) 21
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
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Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Zea unspecified picture
Zea unspecified picture

Distribution

Zea world distribution map, present in Aruba, Afghanistan, Angola, Åland Islands, Albania, Andorra, Austria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Bahamas, Belarus, Belize, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Central African Republic, Switzerland, China, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Djibouti, Dominica, Algeria, Ecuador, Egypt, Spain, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Morocco, Moldova (Republic of), Madagascar, Mali, Myanmar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Malaysia, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Pitcairn, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Korea (Democratic People's Republic of), Portugal, Réunion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Seychelles, Turks and Caicos Islands, Chad, Togo, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Tanzania, United Republic of, Ukraine, Uruguay, United States of America, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Vanuatu, Samoa, Yemen, and Zambia

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:19280-1
WFO ID wfo-4000041167
COL ID 8W4SX
BDTFX ID 87484
INPN ID 199123
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Mais Zea

Lower taxons

Zea diploperennis Zea luxurians Zea mays Zea mexicana Zea nicaraguensis Zea perennis