![]() In general, colors help a plant attract or repel other organisms or hide from predators. Years of deliberate selection, careful pollination, and storing of seeds produced these single-color corn ears. ![]() As to how different colors evolved, or were selected for, one science writer summarizes thusly: "Livestock feeders prefer vitamin-rich yellow kernels, Southerners like white kernels, and Native Americans favor blue. Today's commercial corn is hybridized-bred for flavor, color, and size. And before 1950, most of the corn grown in the US was open-pollinated. In fact, just about all corn ears were multi-colored before human selection. This is because each kernel is independently pollinated via its own silk stigma, which correlates to unique set of genes, including those that control size and color. Anyone who's buttered a cob is familiar with the slight idiosyncrasies of its kernels-a lighter white nestled by a darker yellow, perhaps. Why the demand? Glass gem is an extraordinary example of corn's natural growth. Seeds sold quickly once photographs hit the internet (there is now a long waiting list at Seeds Trust, who anticipate available seeds for December). "No one had ever seen corn like this before." Naturally, the seed lover selected several of the curiously-named "glass gems" to plant in his garden. Today, he's the executive director of Native Seeds/SEARCH). Schoen, looking for a safe place to store Barnes's legacy, in turn passed on a sampling to fellow seedsman & seed saver Bill McDorman (at the time, McDorman was the owner of Seeds Trust, a small seed company. Eventually, the octogenarian "corn teacher" bestowed his seed collection to Greg Schoen, corn-breeding protégé. Over successive generations, Barnes selectively saved and planted seeds that demonstrated vibrant colors. Glass gem corn was born in Oklahoma, bred by a part-Cherokee farmer named Carl Barnes who had a knack for tinkering with corn. Yes, it's real, and, as an heirloom, its seeds will grow true. And glass gem is the name of a beautiful variety with a palette of improbable colors: lilac, merlot, robin's egg blue, pearl, baby pink. Tassels and silk, with their pollen and ovules, are the so-called trimmings that produce an ear of corn. Tassels, silk, and glass gems-objet de luxe or, well, grain? If you're thinking of a certain husk-swaddled treasure, you are correct: Corn in general, and a rare heirloom variety in particular.
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