Corn was the backbone of the remarkable civilizations developed by the Aztecs in Mexico, the Mayas in Central America, and the fabulous Incas of Bolivia and Peru. It was a staple food in North America for every Indian tribe from Arizona and the Great Plains to the Atlantic coast. There was a great diversity of varieties and of colors, including yellow, red, blue and white. Somehow, maize became so domesticated and specialized that it could no longer reproduce itself unless its seed was gathered, planted and tended by man. Its origin is a mystery.
Corn is a grass.
It belongs to the great plant family which includes the myriad of grasses that cover our lawns, pastures and prairies. That family also includes bamboo and sugar cane, as well as rice, wheat, barley, rye, oats, kaffir corn and other grains. Corn or maize, however, differs from all other grasses, whether wild or cultivated, in the nature of its female seed-producing flowers. At the top of the stalk are the male flowers, the tassel, that shed pollen. At the inner end of each thread, fertilized by a microscopic grain of pollen, is a flower that develops a seed or kernel.