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Useful Tropical Plants

Zea diploperennis

H.H.Iltis, Doebley & R.Guzmán

Poaceae

+ Synonyms

Zea perennis diploperennis (H.H.Iltis, Doebley & R.Guzmán) Greb.

Common Name:

Zea diploperennis
Plant being grown in the Conservatoire Botanique National de Brest, France
Photograph by: Jeffdelonge
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Zea diploperennis Zea diploperennis Zea diploperennis Zea diploperennis

General Information

Zea diploperennis is a robust, clump-forming, perennial grass with short rhizomes. The erect culms are 100 - 250cm tall and 10 - 20mm in diameter.
The plant is a wild relative of the cultivated maize (Zea mays). Its edible seed is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References


Range

Southern N. America - southern Mexico.

Habitat

Found in one small area only, growing with tall grass and herbs along small streams in a region of Pinus-Quercus-Carpinus forest at elevations of 2,000 metres or more

Properties

Edibility Rating *  *
HabitPerennial
Height1.50 m
PollinatorsWind
Cultivation StatusWild

Cultivation Details



The plant has resistance to various viruses that afflict cultivated maize (Zea mays). It has the same number of chromosomes as maize (20), and so can be used in breeding programmes to pass that resistance on to maize and also, perhaps, to develop a perennial form of maize.

Edible Uses

Seed[
301
Title
Cornucopia II
Publication
 
Author
Facciola. S.
Publisher
Kampong Publications, California.
Year
1998
ISBN
0-9628087-2-5
Description
The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
]. Sometimes eaten[
301
Title
Cornucopia II
Publication
 
Author
Facciola. S.
Publisher
Kampong Publications, California.
Year
1998
ISBN
0-9628087-2-5
Description
The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -
Division.
Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2024-03-28. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Zea+diploperennis>

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