View source for Pod corn

{{Short description|Variety of maize}}
{{Infobox cultivar
| name = Pod corn
| image = Pod corn.JPG
| image_caption =
| image_alt =
| species = ''[[Zea mays]]''
| variety = ''Zea mays'' var. ''tunicata''
| group =
| cultivar =
| origin =
}}
'''Pod corn''' or '''wild maize''' is a variety of [[maize]] (corn).<ref name="Maize Cobs and Cultures: History of Zea mays L.">{{cite book|title=Maize Cobs and Cultures: History of Zea mays L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pHChoyH4FMwC&pg=PA114|access-date=20 April 2013|year=2010|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-642-04524-0|pages=114–}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|pmid=22829149|year=2012|last1=Han|first1=JJ|last2=Jackson|first2=D|last3=Martienssen|first3=R|title=Pod corn is caused by rearrangement at the Tunicate1 locus|volume=24|issue=7|pages=2733–44|doi=10.1105/tpc.112.100537|pmc=3426111|journal=The Plant Cell|bibcode=2012PlanC..24.2733H }}</ref> It is not a wild ancestor of maize but rather a mutant that forms leaves around each kernel.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120424120541.htm| title = Pod corn develops leaves in the inflorescences -- ScienceDaily}} </ref>
Pod corn (''tunicata'' Sturt) is not grown commercially, but it is preserved in some localities.<ref>{{cite book
| title= Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production Volume II
| chapter= Growth And Production Of Maize: Traditional Low-Input Cultivation
| editor=Willy H. Verheye
| date=2010
| publisher=[[EOLSS]] Publishers
| isbn=978-1-84826-368-0
| url=https://www.eolss.net/ebooklib/bookinfo/soils-plant-growth-crop-production.aspx
| page=77
}}</ref>
Pod corn forms [[glume]]s around each kernel which is caused by a mutation at the [[Tunica (biology)#Botanical and related usages|Tunicate]] locus.{{efn|More specifically, a gene ordinarily relating only to vegetative portions of the plant, called ZMM19, was apparently duplicated (in pre-Columbian times), leading to expression of the leafy sheath at the plant's inflorescences.{{Citation
| last        = Wingen, L. U., Munster, T., Faigl, W., Deleu, W., Sommer, H., Saedler, H., & Theissen, G.
| year        = 2012
| title       = Molecular genetic basis of pod corn (Tunicate maize)
| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
| volume = 109
| issue = 18
| pages = 7115–7120
| publisher   = PNAS
| publication-place = University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
| doi = 10.1073/pnas.1111670109
| doi-access = free
| pmid = 22517751
| pmc = 3344968
| bibcode = 2012PNAS..109.7115W
}}}} Because of its bizarre appearance, pod corn has had a religious significance to certain Native American tribes.{{which?|date=October 2024}}<ref>Wingen, L. U., Munster, T., Faigl, W., Deleu, W., Sommer, H., Saedler, H., &amp; Theissen, G.
(2012). Molecular genetic basis of pod corn (Tunicate maize). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(18), 7115-7120. doi:10.1073/pnas.1111670109</ref>
The six major types of corn are [[dent corn]], [[flint corn]], pod corn, [[popcorn]], [[flour corn]], and [[sweet corn]].<ref>Linda Campbell Franklin, "Corn," in Andrew F. Smith (ed.), ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America''. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013 (pp. 551–558), p. 553.</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:Maize]]
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