Corn Grass: I. Corn Grass as a Prototype or a False Progenitor of Maize

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Abstract
The characteristics of corn grass, a macromutant of maize, appear to be in the nature of general inherent reflections from all the members of the maize tribe, the MAYDEAE, rather than from any immediate wild ancestor of modern maize. Some features of this macromutant are scattered in a less pronounced form among the various races of maize. Other traits of corn grass are more characteristic of other members of the MAYDEAE. Five of the more consistent characteristics of corn grass are (1) grass-like features, (2) Tripsacum-llke sex-growth relations, (3) single pistillate spikelets, (4) terminal inflorescence with few branches and (5) spathes subtending spikelets. Since corn grass is highly susceptible to genetic modification, the results of studies of its hybrids may be of value in locating relic germplasm characteristic of the primitive grass from which maize and its relatives have descended.

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