The Anderson-Cutler Collection Taryn Pelch Division of Anthropology at Lindenwood University and The University of Missouri, St. Louis

The Collectors Teosinte Curation Edgar Anderson, curator and geneticist at Teosinte (Nahuatl for “grain of the In recent years, this collection has not been the Missouri Botanical Garden from 1923- gods”) is the common name for a utilized to its full extent, and many 1967, worked with botanist Hugh Carson group of four annual and perennial specimens are in need of thorough Cutler (curator from 1953-1977) in species of the Zea native to documentation and research to reconstruct studying Zea mays (maize) domestication, Mexico and Central America. One provenance and historical usage. A current cultivation, and diversity. In the 1940s, form of teosinte that grows wild along project is underway to store specimens in

Edgar Anderson: photo courtesy of Cutler traveled extensively through the streams and on hillsides in archival plastic bags with printed tags, the Botanical Society of America. Southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Guatemala, southwestern Mexico, known as Zea including labels, bar codes, collection collecting hundreds of specimens. Once at mays ssp. parviglumis, shares a numbers, and accession numbers, enter all the Missouri Botanical Garden, previous particularly close genetic relationship available data into the Tropicos database, specimens collected by Anderson and others with maize and available evidence and place them into labeled acid-free boxes since the early 1900s were integrated with indicates that it is the direct ancestor for preservation and storage. Cutler’s collections. The collection was of modern maize (Doebley 1990). Hugh Cutler: photo courtesy of transferred to the University of Illinois in www.saa.org. Diagram courtesy of b4fa.org. 1980, and was returned to The Missouri Botanical Garden’s herbarium in 2001. Maize Domestication

The Collection As early as 10,000 years ago, maize was likely domesticated in Currently, the Anderson-Cutler Maize southern Mexico to provide a Maize from the Peruvian subset. Collection at the Missouri Botanical Garden reliable source of food for consists of over 8,000 specimens gathered growing populations living in over the last 100 years from locations permanent settlements. Through Scientific Importance around the world. The collection includes artificial selection or selective over 6,400 ears of maize, as well as 1,140 breeding, early farmers saved Zea mays is grown and harvested in many glass or plastic vials and 582 paper kernels from with desirable locations around the world. Due to the envelopes containing materials characteristics and planted them significance of maize as a food crop, this Photo courtesy of Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, belonging to the genus Zea, including for the next season's harvest. Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. diverse collection has great potential teosinte (Zea mays L. ssp. mexicana and Maize cobs became larger over scientific importance, and should be made Reference: others), Tripsacum, , and other . time, with more rows of kernels, available for further studies and research Cucurbita (squash) is also represented in the Doebley, J.F. 1990. Molecular evidence and eventually taking on the form of the evolution of maize. Econ. Bot. 44 involving the origin of maize, its collection. modern maize. (Supplement 3): 6-27. domestication, and its historic use.