Why Do Corn Plants Flower?

Flowering Plants and Reproduction

• Considered by botanists as the most highly evolved forms of plant life, flowering plants, also known as angiosperms, produce flowers in order to reproduce. The flower carries the plant's reproductive organs and ability to reproduce. While many plants feature showy, brightly-colored flowers to attract insects for pollination, corn pollinates using the wind.

Male Flowers

• A corn plant produces individual male and female flowers, according to the University of Florida Extension. The male flowers have a branched floral structure and are located at the top of the stalk. They produce a pale yellow pollen that is small and fine. The structure of the pollen helps it carry on the wind.

Female Flowers

• The female flowers form ears, which produce edible seeds. The female flowers form lower on the stalk, just above a leaf at a spot called the node. Depending on the variety of corn, there may be anywhere from one to four female flowers. The silks that emerge from the ear are the stigmas of the female flower. Each stigma connects to an individual ovule, which is the potential kernel of corn. Silks begin to grow from the ovules 10 to 14 days before they are visible outside of the female flower, according to Purdue University. The silks at the tip of the ear usually emerge first, with those at the bottom of the ear emerge last. Silks have the potential to grow 1 1/2 inches per day for the first several days after emergence.

Pollination and Fertilization

• The wind carries pollen on the air to the the silks of the female flower. Silks capture pollen for up to 10 days after they emerge. The silk stops the pollen, which forms a pollen tube and fertilizes the ovule within 24 hours. Pollen grains can land and germinate anywhere along the length of the silk, not just at the end of the silk. Purdue University points out that the silks usually always catch pollen, but the pollen doesn't always transfer into fertilization. The average ear of corn produces up to 1,000 ovules receptive to fertilization and growth into seed kernels. However, pollen tube failure, pollen death and other problems usually result in only 400 to 600 actual kernels developing on each ear.

Reproduction

• Upon maturity, each kernel of corn holds the potential to produce a new corn plant given the proper planting conditions. With all known corn plant growth occurring under cultivation, the corn seeds must be dispersed by human means in order to germinate and grow.