Corn
Zea mays
Maize. Sweet corn is a sugar-holding cultivar picked immature; flint, dent, and popcorn are dry-grain types of the same species. Wind-pollinated — plant in a block, not a single row.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: maize, sweet corn, Corn silk, corn-silk
What it is
Maize. Sweet corn is a sugar-holding cultivar picked immature; flint, dent, and popcorn are dry-grain types of the same species. Wind-pollinated — plant in a block, not a single row.
Edible portions
- kernels
- immature ears
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. Annual heat
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Rich, warm, well-fed, even water at tasseling
- Planting. Direct-sow in warm soil in a block of short rows.
- Harvest. Sweet corn when silks brown and juice is milky. Grain corn when ears dry.
Processing, drying, storage
- Drying. Grain types dry on the ear. Sweet corn is a fresh food. See also Make → Drying.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Eat sweet corn the day you pick it if you can — sugars convert to starch
- Dry grain for meal and popcorn
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- No USDA FoodData Central nutrient profile is attached here. That is not a claim that the plant contains no nutrients.
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class B. Good foundation: enough unique information to exist as its own destination.