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RELATIVES Corn, or maize, descended from a Mexican grass called teosinte.
By SEAN B. CARROLL
Published: May 24, 2010
It is now growing season across the Corn Belt of the United States. Seeds that have just been sown will, with the right mixture of sunshine and rain, be knee-high plants by the Fourth of July and tall stalks with ears ripe for picking by late August. More
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Date: 2010-05-25 01:21 pm (UTC)But yeah, as a Plant Person (Propagator/Nurseryman at the Los Angeles County Arboretum) I followed the academic investigation of the historical development of maize at the time -- even to the extent of growing teosinte a few years (it's an interesting grain on its own) -- and was ... bemused by the difficulty many Scientists had in accepting the concept that simple peasant farmers could bring about such extreme plant changes/developments. But I didn't notice -- perhaps/probably because it wasn't there -- any indication of the "stupid brown-skinned people" meme. The prejudice seemed to be based on social/economic/intellectual Class, rather than on Race, and included some selective blindness about the almost as amazing plant-breeding work of their own peasant ancestors.
Fixed...
Date: 2010-05-25 01:51 pm (UTC)