Fig. 1.

Morphology of teosinte and maize. Differences in plant morphology between teosinte and maize are highlighted in A, while differences in ear morphology are shown in B. Teosinte plant has many branches with multiple ears on each branch and tassel at the tip of the branch; maize plant has few branches with a single ear on each branch and ear at the tip of the branch. Teosinte ear has few grains enclosed in fruit cases, while maize ear has many grains with exposed fruit cases. Adapted from ref. 19.