Maize (Zea mays)

Teosinte remade by nine thousand years of selection into the world’s most harvested crop.

Core Principles & Analysis

• Domesticated from teosinte in southern Mexico, whose hard ears look nothing like modern corn.
• By tonnage it is the world’s largest crop, feeding people, livestock, and ethanol refineries.
• It cannot survive without humans: kernels locked on the cob no longer self-disperse.

Specifications & Metrics

• FAMILY: Poaceae
• LIFESPAN: Annual