Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Preface vii
3. Special Acknowledgment xii
4. Contents xiii
5. Introduction 1
6. 1. The Modern Corn Plant 5
7. 2. Theories on the Origin of Maize 11
8. 3. Teosinte, the Closest Relative of Maize 15
9. 4. The Genetic Nature of Teosinte 37
10. 5. Tripsacum, a More Distant Relative of Corn 53
11. 6. Corn’s Old World Relatives 71
12. 7. Pod Corn, the Ancestral Form 75
13. 8. The Nature of the Pod-Corn Locus 87
14. 9. Races of Maize 101
15. 10. The Concept of Lineages 113
16. 11 The Role of Hybridization in Corn’s Evolution 121
17. 12. Mutations 133
18. 13. Genetic Drift and Selection 143
19. 14. Archaeological Evidence of Corn’s Evolution 147
20. 15. Prehistoric Wild Corn and Fossil Pollen 165
21. 16. Corn in Prehistoric Art 187
22. 17. Corn’s Spread to the Old World 201
23. 18. The Prehistoric and Modern Improvement of Maize 207
24. 19. The Nature of Heterosis 215
25. 20. Modern Breeding Techniques 227
26. Bibliography 245
27. Index 253