Teosinte in Guerrero near the Oaxacan border, Mexico
--Garrison Wilkes and Jesus Sanchez

Teosinte has been located in a region of Guerrero where there are no previous reports of its occurrence. The significance of this new locality is that it forms a bridge with the large population in the drainage of the Rio Balsas and the recently relocated (MNL60:29) but isolated populations in Oaxaca of annual teosinte. Travelling East from Iguala, Guerrero on the road to Huitzuco de los Figueroa and South to Atenango del Rio, teosinte was found on ejido land at Paseo Morelos (Long. 99? 1' - Lat. 18? 14'). The exact locality is called Plan de Timbres (1225m), an irrigated valley floor planted to maize. We were told of other localities in the surrounding region and did indeed verify one of the sites. The region is seasonally dry to arid and definitely over-grazed, so teosinte could exist only in fenced protected zones, usually maize fields. This region has recently had road access, and further exploration toward Copalillo, Olinalá and the Rio Tlapaneco region might well turn up new collection sites. Because of the significance of this zone to the origin and subsequent evolution of maize further exploration seems appropriate. The local name for annual teosinte is Maiz de Pajaro (bird corn is the same as that of other parts of Guerrero). The plant is definitely a small seeded form of the race Balsas. Seed for experimentation can be obtained from Dr. Jesus Sanchez, Departamento de Recursos Genéticos en el Campo Agrícola Auxiliar Valle de Zapopan INIFAP, km 10 Carretera Tlanomulco a San Miguel Cuyutlan, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. 

Return to the MNL 67 On-Line Index
Return to the Maize Newsletter Index
Return to the MaizeGDB Homepage