Accession Data:
Zea mexicana (Schrad.) Kuntze
- Common Name: Teosinte
- Family: Poaceae Barnh.
- Synonym(s): Euchlaena mexicana Schrad.
- Country of Origin: Mexico (Chihuahua to N. Oaxaca)
- Description: Annual or perennial, stems to 10 or rarely 15 feet, coarse, branching at base, flattened on one side between the dark-colored fruiting nodes; leaf blades sword-shaped, long-pointed, to 3.25 inches wide, midrib prominent, sheaths expanded, very strongly veined; female spikelets solitary on opposite sides of obliquely articulate rachis, first glume hard, covering the cavity, second glume membranous, lemma hyaline; grains about /25 inches long, glossy, with markings resembling and insect pupa on the face.
Closely related to and resembling Z. Mays, with which it readily hybridizes. Thought to be one of the progenitors of modern corn.
- Culture: Short day plant - needs about 60 days to flower.
Accession Data:
- Accession # 198501220
- Source: Unknown
- Accession Date: 12-31-1985
- Bench: 2210 - XER:Chihuahuan-Tehuacan Deserts
- Currently: active - healthy
- Qty: 3 confirmed on 04-22-2025
Classification:
- Division: Magnoliophyta
- Class: Liliopsida
- SubClass: commelinids
- Order: Poales
- SubOrder:
- Family: Poaceae
- SubFamily: Panicoideae
- Tribe: Sacchareae
- SubTribe: Tripsacinae
Flowering Data:
This accession has been observed in bloom on:| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References (internal):
- Wind Pollination (anemophily)
- EEB 3271 - Systematic Botany
- Edible Plants
- Edible Grains
- Scavenger Hunt - Grades 9-12
- The Human Epoch; Living in the Anthropocene
- EEB Greenhouse Holdings native to: Mexico Central / Mexico Northeast / Mexico Southwest /
References (external):
- The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Accessed 24 February 2015.
- WCSP (2015). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accessed 24 February 2015.
- Zea (genus) at Wikispecies. Accessed 29 July 2015.
- Image #00 (cropped) & #01 (original) by John Doebley (http://teosinte.wisc.edu/images.html) [Attribution or CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons. Last accessed on Tuesday, October 31, 2017.
data regenerated on Tue, 22 Apr 2025 10:57:02 -0400 [bcm v4.0]
Images:
Additional images for this accession:
Click on thumbnails to enlarge
Current Accessions in the Poaceae
Subfamily Bambusoideae
Tribe Arundinarieae
Subfamily Bambusoideae
Tribe Bambuseae
Subfamily Bambusoideae
Tribe Olyreae
- Parianinae: Eremitis sp.
Subfamily Chloridoideae
Tribe Zoysieae
- Sporobolinae: Spartina bakeri
Subfamily Oryzoideae
Tribe Oryzeae
- Oryzinae: Oryza glaberrima
- Oryzinae: Oryza sativa
Subfamily Panicoideae
Tribe Andropogoneae
- Andropogoninae: Cymbopogon citratus
- Andropogoninae: Schizachyrium scoparium
Subfamily Panicoideae
Tribe Paniceae
- Boivinellinae: Oplismenus hirtellus 'Variegatus'
- Cenchrinae: Stenotaphrum secundatum
- Panicinae: Panicum sphaerocarpon
Subfamily Panicoideae
Tribe Sacchareae
- Coicinae: Coix lacryma-jobi
- Saccharinae: Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus'
- Saccharinae: Pogonatherum crinitum
- Saccharinae: Saccharum officinarum
- Tripsacinae: Zea mexicana
= indicates flowering in past 14 days
= images available for this accession
= map available for this accession
= accession added within past 90 days