Zea diploperennis
H.H.Iltis, Doebley & R.Guzmán
Poaceae
Zea perennis diploperennis (H.H.Iltis, Doebley & R.Guzmán) Greb.
Common Name:
Plant being grown in the Conservatoire Botanique National de Brest, France
Photograph by: Jeffdelonge
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Plant being grown in the Conservatoire Botanique National de Brest, France
Photograph by: Jeffdelonge
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Female spikelets are produced both in the axils of leaves along the main stem and at the ends of the main branches where male spikelets terminate the spike.
Photograph by: Matt Lavin
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
Female spikelets are produced both in the axils of leaves along the main stem and at the ends of the main branches where male spikelets terminate the spike.
Photograph by: Matt Lavin
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
Teosinte ear and kernels
Photograph by: foam
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
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 |  |
| Habit | Perennial |
| Height | 1.50 m |
| Pollinators | Wind |
| Cultivation Status | Wild |
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.
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Useful Tropical Plants Database 2014 by
Ken Fern,
web interface by
Ajna Fern
with help from
Richard Morris.
