The most striking trait is the color, of course. Each strand of silk is a pollen receptor that leads to a kernel. A vacant spot represents a strand that did not get fertilized. Corn is wind pollinated. The pollen drops from the tassels and may fertilize corn on any plant, including itself. I suppose that in the absence of wind, each plant is more likely to pollinate itself. I wonder about this process when I see all the different assortments of color.

This is popcorn. I got the seeds from an online friend this spring. I was thinking of getting some kind of flint corn to grow for animals as well as for kitchen use, but now that we’ve seen what this corn looks like at harvest time I’m thinking of using it as a general purpose corn. It’s very genetically diverse, which means that it will have a better chance of surviving whatever problems come along, such as drought or disease.