Taxon: Zea mays L. subsp. mays

Genus:

Zea

Family:

Poaceae (alt.Gramineae)

Subfamily:

Panicoideae

Tribe:

Andropogoneae

Subtribe:

Tripsacinae

Nomen number:

311987

Place of publication:

Link to protologue:

Typification:

Name Verified on:

15-jul-1987 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last Changed: 22-oct-2003

Species priority site is:

North Central Regional PI Station (NC7)

Accessions:

0 in National Plant Germplasm System

Other conspecific taxa:

Synonyms:

(=) Zea curagua Molina
(=) Zea indentata Sturtev.
(=) Zea indurata Sturtev.
(=) Zea japonica Van Houtte
(=) Zea mays group ceratina Kuleshov
(=) Zea mays var. alba Alef.
(=) Zea mays var. flavorubra Körn.
(=) Zea mays var. indentata (Sturtev.) L. H. Bailey
(=) Zea mays var. indurata (Sturtev.) L. H. Bailey
(=) Zea mays var. japonica (Van Houtte) Alph. Wood
(=) Zea mays var. leucodon Alef.
(=) Zea mays var. saccharata (Sturtev.) L. H. Bailey
(=) Zea mays var. tunicata Larrañaga ex A. St.-Hil.
(=) Zea mays var. vulgata Körn.
(=) Zea saccharata Sturtev.

Common names:

corn (Source: Dict Rehm) - English
dent corn (Source: AH 505) - English
field corn (Source: AH 505) - English
flint corn (Source: AH 505) - English
maize (Source: World Econ Pl) - English
pod corn (Source: AH 505) - English
popcorn (Source: AH 505) - English
sweet corn (Source: AH 505) - English
dura shami (Source: F Egypt) - Arabic
maïs (Source: L Noms French ed6) - French
Mais (Source: Dict Rehm) - German
granoturco (Source: Mult Glossary Crops) - Italian
mais (Source: Mult Glossary Crops) - Italian
tō-morokoshi (Source: Names Batra) - Japanese Rōmaji
milho (Source: Dict Rehm) - Portuguese
maíz (Source: Dict Rehm) - Spanish
majs (Source: Kulturvaxtdatabas) - Swedish
yu shu shu (Source: F ChinaEng) - Transcribed Chinese
gangnaengi (Source: Kulturpflanze) - Transcribed Korean
ogsusu (Source: F Korea) - Transcribed Korean

Economic Importance:

Food additives: sweetener (fide CultTropS)
Environmental: ornamental (fide Econ Pl Aust)
Human food: beverage base (fide CultTropS, as Z. mays)
Human food: oil/fat (fide CultTropS, as Z. mays)
Human food: starch (fide CultTropS, as Z. mays)
Human food: vegetable (fide CultTropS, as Z. mays)
Animal food: fodder (fide Pl Res SEAs 10:144. 1996)
Fuels: petroleum substitute/alcohol (fide N. El Bassam 1998)
Materials: beads (fide Bot Beads World; as http://www.botanicalbeads.com/BBB_page_18.html,)
Materials: fiber (fide Pl Res SEAs 10:144. 1996)
Materials: lipids (fide Pl Res SEAs 10:144. 1996)
Medicines: folklore (fide CRC MedHerbs ed2, as Z. mays; Herbs Commerce ed2, as Z. mays)
Vertebrate poisons: mammals (fide Kingsbury; Cooper & Johnson ed2; Kellerman et al.)

Distributional Range:

Cultivated

(only cult.)

References:

Batra, L. R. Names of Japanese plants sorted by their Japanese names in Romanized Katakana and scientific nomenclature. 1995 (Names Batra)
Demilly, D. et al. Liste alphabétique des principales espèces de plantes cultivées et de mauvaises herbes. Noms latins et noms français, ed. 6. 1996 (L Noms French ed6)
El Bassam, N. 1998. Energy plant species 18-49.
Grubben, G. J. H. & Soetjipto Partohardjono, eds. 1996. Cereals (Pl Res SEAs) 10:143.
Kellerman, T. S. et al. Plant poisonings and mycotoxicoses of livestock in Southern Africa. 1988 (Kellerman et al.)
Lazarides, M. & B. Hince CSIRO Handbook of Economic Plants of Australia. 1993 (Econ Pl Aust)
Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994 (Dict Rehm)
Rehm, S. & G. Espig The cultivated plants of the tropics and subtropics. 1991 (CultTropS)
Smith, R. J. Botanical beads of the world (on-line resource). (Bot Beads World)
Terrell, E. E. et al. Agric. Handb. no. 505. 1986 (AH 505)

Check other web resources for Zea mays L. subsp. mays :

Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Databas of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.

Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2026. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN-Taxonomy).
National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: http://germoplasma.iniaf.gob.bo/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=311987. Accessed 7 junio 2026.