Fig. 1.

The differences between teosinte and maize today in branching architecture and inflorescence sexuality. Teosinte has several long primary lateral branches terminated by tassels and secondary lateral branching, where female ears are located. Maize has a single main stem terminated with a solitary tassel. There are a few, very short primary lateral branches and no secondary branching. The cobs are located at the ends of the branches on the main stem in the positions occupied by tassels in teosinte. Reproduced from ref. 27.