Editing Zea (plant) (section)

==Recognized species==
[[File:Maize-teosinte.jpg|thumb|teosinte (top), maize-teosinte hybrid (middle), [[maize]] (bottom)]]
The five accepted [[species]] names in the [[genus]] are:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=42268#null|title = ITIS - Report: Zea}}</ref><ref name="Wu-et-al-2011" /> 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Ear !! Plant !!  Scientific name !! Common name !! Distribution
|-
| [[File:Perennial Teosinte ear (Zea diploperennis) - Detail.jpg|120px]] || [[File:Zea diploperennis01.jpg|120px]] || ''[[Zea diploperennis]]'' <small>H.H.Iltis et al.</small>|| diploperennial teosinte || [[Jalisco]]
|-
| [[File:Pl. I Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture (U.S.) 1887.jpg|120px]] || || ''[[Zea luxurians]]'' <small>(Durieu & Asch.) R.M.Bird</small> ||  Maíz de Monte, Florida teosinte and Guatemalan teosinte || [[Chiapas]], [[Guatemala]], [[Honduras]]
|-
| [[File:Maize J7.jpg|120px]] || [[File:Belize - panoramio (47).jpg|120px]] || ''[[Zea mays]]'' <small>[[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]</small> || Corn, Maize || southern [[Mexico]], Guatemala; cultivated in many places
|-
| || || ''[[Zea nicaraguensis]]'' <small>H.H.Iltis & B.F.Benz</small>|| Nicaraguan teosinte || [[Nicaragua]]
|-
| || [[File:Zea perennis.jpg|120px]] || ''[[Zea perennis]]'' <small>(Hitchc.) Reeves & [[Paul Christoph Mangelsdorf|Mangelsd.]]</small>|| perennial teosinte || Jalisco
|-
|}

[[Maize]] (''Zea mays'') is further divided into four subspecies: ''[[Zea mays subsp. huehuetenangensis|Z. m. huehuetenangensis]]'', ''[[Zea mays subsp. mexicana|Z. m. mexicana]]'', ''[[Zea mays subsp. parviglumis|Z. m. parviglumis]]'' (Balsas teosinte, the ancestor of maize), and ''[[Zea mays subsp. mays|Z. m. mays]]''.<ref name="Wu-et-al-2011"/> The first three subspecies are teosintes; the last is [[maize]], or corn,<ref name="Wu-et-al-2011">{{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Chi-Chih |last2=Diggle |first2=Pamela K. |last3=Friedman |first3=William E. |title=Female gametophyte development and double fertilization in Balsas teosinte, ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''parviglumis'' (Poaceae) |journal=[[Sexual Plant Reproduction]]|date=September 2011 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=219–229 |doi=10.1007/s00497-011-0164-1 |pmid=21380710 |s2cid=8045294 }}</ref> the only domesticated [[taxon]] in the genus ''Zea''.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The genus is divided into two [[section (botany)|sections]]: ''Luxuriantes'', with ''Z. diploperennis'', ''Z. luxurians'', ''Z. nicaraguensis'', ''Z. perennis''; and ''Zea'' with ''Z. mays''. The former section is typified by dark-staining knobs made up of [[heterochromatin]] that are terminal on most [[chromosome]] arms, while most subspecies of section ''Zea'' may have none to three knobs between each chromosome end and the [[centromere]] and very few terminal knobs (except ''Z. m. huehuetenangensis'', which has many large terminal knobs).{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}