--W. F. Tracy

In the fall of 1987 I received a call from a Mrs. Meyers of Pewaukee, Wisconsin. She explained that her family had been maintaining an open-pollinated variety of blue sweet corn for over 40 years but was no longer able to do so. Her family had received it from the Lindsey family of the Milwaukee area and she believed that they had been maintaining it for at least 30-40 years prior to her family receiving it.

Mrs. Meyers supplied me with approximately one pound of seed. It was planted in Madison, Wisconsin in 1988, sib-pollinated by hand, and was harvested. Notes on its appearance were taken. It is most probably a strain of Black Mexican Sweet. The plants are heavily tillered, 4-6 feet tall and have thin main stalks. The dried ears are 5-7 inches long. Most ears have 8 rows of deep purple-black sugary kernels. A few 10-12 rowed ears are present and approximately 3% of the ears segregated purple/nonpurple kernels. Seed of this variety will be provided to the Plant Introduction Station at Ames, Iowa.

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