Maize is the domesticated grass Zea mays, grown for its grain. A maize kernel is a caryopsis: a fruit in which the enclosing wall is closely attached to the seed. The male flowers form the tassel, while female flowers occur in ears; wind carries pollen between them. Having both kinds of flowers on one plant is different from having separate male and female plants.
Its domestication from teosinte provides a concrete example of how changes in developmental regulation alter a crop. Research on apical dominance identified the teosinte branched1 gene as a major contributor to the suppression of side branches in maize. Comparing gene activity and mutant plants connected a conspicuous architectural difference to regulation of axillary growth.[ref]
The evolution of apical dominance in maize by John Doebley and others. Nature 386, pp. 485–488; tb1 and the domestication-related change in branching
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