| Bengali Name : | ভুট্টা |
| Common Name : | Maize, Corn, etc. |
| Botanical Name : | Zea mays |
| Family : | Poaceae |
A female inflorescence(ears) with sliks
Maize is the most growing grains from American region. In English speaking countries it is known as Corn. Botanical name of the Corn is Zea mays from the plant family Poaceae. In Bangladesh(বাংলাদেশ) we call this as Bhutta(ভুট্টা). Maize was basically indigenous to the American region. Civilization like Mayans used to cultivate this as a crop. After invasion to that region, later this was spread to the world with the hand of Spanish and other European invaders.
A male inflorescence
Corn is basically a erect plant which sometimes resembles like canes. In fact the stem of the sweet-corn plant is sweet like sugar cane. Leafs of this plant are kind of sword like and rough edged, arranged oppositely at the stem as a whorl. Ears(female flower) use to emerge from the joining point of the leaf and the stem. The whole ears is covered with several lays of leafs and at the end of the ears a bunch of sliks are found. These sliks are basically the stigma of the female flower.
Male flower use to come from the apex of the plant. Each plant carries only one male flower and multiple female flowers. Male flowers are full with stamens. After successful germination the female flower use to have kernels(seeds) around it. The young seeds can be easily consumed but mature seeds are very hard and require cooking or other processing.
This corn became popular for only one reason. No matter how adverse the condition is, it grows superb. The northern part of Bangladesh(বাংলাদেশ) is cultivating this grain in a huge scale. Also in our hilly areas the tribal are cultivating this crop with others in Zum(জুম) field.
Photos of this article were taken from a Zum(জুম) of Bandarban(বান্দরবান) Hill. I was traveling there during August 2012.
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