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Zea nicaraguensis
Nicaraguan teosinte is a wild annual grass in the maize genus, native to a small estuarine river area in northwest Nicaragua. It is critically endangered and grows best in flooded, moist conditions, so it is a conservation species rather than a garden plant.
Zea nicaraguensis is an annual, true grass species in the genus Zea. It is considered to be phenotypically the most distinctive, as well as the most threatened teosinte. This teosinte thrives in flooded conditions along 200 m of a coastal estuarine river in northwest Nicaragua at the Reserva Natural de Apacunca. Virtually all populations of teosinte are either threatened or endangered with Z. nicaraguensis being the most endangered, it survives as about 6000 plants in an area of 200 x 150 m. The Mexican and Nicaraguan governments have taken action in recent years to protect wild teosinte populations, using both in situ and ex situ conservation methods.
Diploperennial teosinte · Teosinte · Dent corn · Flint corn · Maize · Perennial teosinte · Corn
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Zea nicaraguensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
