Maize: Hybrid and genetic modification

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In 1716, Cotton Mather described maize which Americans call corn and pumpkins which are also known as squash as hybrid plants. On longer evolutionary time scales, hybridisation can lead to local adaption through introgression or reverse cross-breeding.

Maize, which falls in the grass family, was first domesticated by indigenous people in Balsas, the River Valley of south-central Mexico, about 10,000 years ago. The naturally-propagating ancestor of maize is teosinte and still grows wildly in Mexico.