Pollen morphological studies of some primitive varieties of Maize (Zea Mays L.) with remarks on the history of Maize in India

Abstract

The paper describes the pollen statistics of ten primitive varieties of maize from Assam and Mexico. The pollen statistical data are used to recognize subfossil maize pollen from amongst the pollen of Cerealia recovered from the Postglacial deposits of Kashmir Valley. The evidences of subfossil pollen, the archaeobotanical material and the occurrence of most primitive types of maize in Assam seem to suggest the occurrence of maize in India during the PreColumbian time.