Corn, Was: Re: Mislabeled plants!

In a message dated 98-07-22 12:03:52 EDT, you write:

<< 
 Jeanne, Thanks for a good laugh.  Doubt if you will get any corn with only
 one stalk.  Corn is wind pollinated and needs to be in a "patch", minimum of
 16 in a 4x4 square for good pollination (thats what the book says).  So, you
 might want to sacrifice it to the corn goddess :)....Marilyn
 Marilyn Dube'
 NATURAL DESIGN PLANTS
 Hardy Perennials, Choice Tropicals
 Portland, Oregon,  Zone 8b
  >>

I grew just one stalk of corn in my garden just last year, and got five ears
of corn!  Of course they were sparse with kernals, but there were enough that
they were an attractive ornament for my fall table.  They were a colorful
Indian corn, and my husband had never watched any kind of corn grow, so I grew
it mostly for him.  Each kernal is the result of pollen from the top of the
plant (or another corn plant) hitting one of the pieces of silk on the ear of
corn below.  You get more kernals on each ear from more plants, but you get
ears regardless.  Actually, corn is about the most complicated plant I know.
There is some fascinating science involved.  There is something called jumping
genes, which I don't understand well enough to explain, but the phenomenum was
first discovered fairly recently in corn.  Also, each growing ear of corn
represents 3 generations of DNA; the grandmother's genes are there somewhere,
but I'd have to crack the botany books (and maybe my teacher's head) to find
it again.  Great stuff, corn.

Linda

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index