Species: Zea mays ssp. mays

Plantae - Anthophyta - Monocotyledoneae - Cyperales - Poaceae - Zea - Cultivated corn is treated by Kartesz (1999) as Zea mays ssp. mays, in contrast to Z. mays ssp. parviglumis, one of the kinds of teosinte. (Another teosinte is Z. mexicana, sometimes treated as Z. mays ssp. mexicana.). However, in many floristic and agricultural works, corn/maize is treated as a distinct species, Zea mays, separate from the teosintes. Zea mays (ssp. mays) is unknown in a truly wild, self-maintaining state, even in its native Mexico, corn is widely cultivated throughout temperate and tropical-montane regions of the world, often persisting for short times without cultivation in nearly any portion of its agricultural range. It is still debated whether corn once grew as a wild plant, from which further agricultural selections were made, or originated in cultivation. Noncultivated corn plants from accidentally dropped seed are regularly seen in the U.S. and Canada along roadsides and farmyards and in gardens, and occasionally in or along edges of more natural settings. Due to these recurrent introductions, the species is indeed part of the noncultivated flora of the USA and Canada.