Corn is a flowering plant, though its reproductive structures look very different from the bright, showy blossoms of ornamental garden species. The answer to whether corn has flowers is a definitive yes, but they are not the traditional, single-structure blooms most people imagine. Corn’s floral arrangement is unique, distinguishing it from many other cultivated plants and featuring separate male and female identities on the same stalk.
Identifying the Separate Male and Female Flowers
The corn plant, Zea mays, carries its male and female reproductive organs in two separate structures, a characteristic known as monoecy. The male flower is the tassel, the feathery, spike-like structure located at the very top of the stalk. Each tassel is an inflorescence composed of numerous small spikelets containing anthers that produce and release pollen. A single tassel can produce between 2 and 5 million pollen grains, a massive quantity necessary for reproduction.
The female flower is the ear, which develops lower down on the main stalk, emerging from the leaf axils. This structure is protected by tightly wrapped, modified leaves called husks. The most recognizable part of the female flower is the silk, a cluster of long, thread-like strands that emerge from the tip of the ear. Each strand of silk is a separate stigma and style, connected to a single ovule inside the ear.
The silks are the receptive surface for the pollen, and each strand must successfully catch a grain of pollen for its corresponding ovule to develop into a kernel. If a strand of silk fails to be pollinated, the ovule will not be fertilized, resulting in a blank spot on the cob. The potential number of kernels on a fully developed ear, often between 400 and 600, is directly determined by the number of silks the female flower produces.
How Corn Pollinates
The reproductive process in corn relies entirely on wind, classifying the plant as anemophilous. Once the tassel matures, it sheds its light, yellow pollen grains, which are carried by air currents down toward the silks below. Although individual pollen grains are relatively heavy, the sheer volume released ensures a high chance of successful transfer between plants.
The timing of this process is precisely coordinated by the plant in a sequence known as “nick.” Pollen shed from the tassel usually begins around the time the silks emerge from the husks, ensuring the male and female parts are active simultaneously. Pollen shed typically occurs over six to 14 days, and the silks remain receptive for approximately 10 days.
When a pollen grain lands on a sticky silk, it germinates and grows a pollen tube down the strand to reach the ovule at the base. This culminates in a unique process called double fertilization, completed within about 24 hours of the pollen landing. One male nucleus fertilizes the ovule to form the embryo, while a second nucleus fertilizes two female nuclei to form the endosperm, the starchy part of the kernel.
Because the majority of pollen is carried only a short distance (typically 20 to 50 feet), most corn plants are cross-pollinated by neighboring plants rather than self-pollinating. This tendency toward outcrossing is why commercial corn is often planted in dense blocks instead of single long rows, maximizing the chances of pollen landing on the receptive silks. After fertilization, the silk separates from the kernel and changes color, marking the successful completion of the reproductive phase.
Corn’s Botanical Uniqueness
The separation of male and female flowers on the same plant (monoecy) sets Zea mays apart from many other flowering species. Many common garden flowers are “perfect,” meaning they contain both male and female parts within a single bloom. Corn’s floral development is initially bisexual, but the components abort as the plant matures, resulting in two separate, functionally unisexual structures.
Corn belongs to the Poaceae family, commonly known as the grass family, which includes other staple grains like wheat and rice. Its closest ancestor is teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis), a wild grass native to Mexico. Domestication began about 9,000 years ago, a selective breeding process that profoundly changed the plant’s architecture.
The wild teosinte plant had small, fragmented ears and multiple stalks, but ancient farmers selected for the single, large-eared stalk that characterizes modern corn. This evolutionary change created a plant whose seeds no longer naturally disperse, making Zea mays entirely dependent on human intervention for propagation. The separation of male and female flowers has also proven beneficial for genetic research, allowing for controlled cross-pollination with ease.