By KAREN MADORIN
If W.B. Yeats words, “Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of the fire,” then a score of house finches lit the match that led me to discover fascinating facts about our corn patch. Nature offers intriguing lessons when we inquire.
Instruction began as our corn tasseled a few weeks ago. Scores of house finches descended on fresh tassels, nibbling and tugging at serrated edges that distribute pollen. Flocks returned morning and evening to gorge on their tasty treat. Their behavior triggered me to research why wild finches crave corn pollen.
While I didn’t find an answer to that question, the search led to a world of discovery for me. Every day, I watch pollinators zip from one blossom to another in our garden, delivering essential DNA info to pumpkins, tomatoes, cantaloupe, zucchinis, cucumbers, potatoes, and flowers. Amazingly I never wondered how corn fertilized. Those feisty finches and their stellar teaching technique remedied that lack of curiosity.
Thank goodness we live in an age where an inquisitive mind can retrieve info with the click of a computer key. After several days of wondering why tiny birds kept returning to nibble our corn tassels, I googled answers.
The first hour led down multiple bunny trails, none of which addressed my question. However, it did direct me to sites that explain corn pollination and how it differs from other plants. Of course, I now have more questions, but cold weather arrives soon with time to explore when outside weather isn’t calling my name.
Unfortunately, I found no satisfaction regarding finches eating pollen other than they eat seeds. Dangly parts on corn tassels resemble seeds. What I did learn was that corn’s widely separated male and female reproductive parts that typically depend on wind transfer of pollen to ovule differ from most other plants.
As you check your own corn or drive about the countryside examining cornfields, consider a plant that humans began manipulating thousands of years ago. What is now a tall plant with a thick stalk originated much smaller with fewer seeds to either eat or plant.
Now, hybridized tall, thick stems commonly produce one to two ears containing up to 1000 ovules. Corn kernels result from the 400 to 700 that successfully fertilize, leading me to wonder how many ears does the Green Giant require to fill a 16 oz. can? The real miracle involves transferring pollen from those tassels rising feet above ovules enclosed in a husk.
I always wondered why corn has inedible silks. Think back to grade school science and plant pollination. Silks sprout out of each ovary on each ear and serve as stigma and style of female blossoms. That frothy eruption of fine strands delivers pollen that blows, falls, or gets shaken off by hungry finches onto an individual silk which then transports it to an ovary where it turns into a corn kernel. Interestingly, I learned that once pollen delivery takes place, silks detach. In theory, humans can test nature’s success by gently tugging those fibers days before they harvest corn.
Before this investigation, growing and processing corn offered enjoyable means to produce a favorite food. As a bonus, we liked watching it grow and attract birds to the garden. Now that I know more, I’m impressed with one more of the many ways the Good Lord has of making sure His creatures eat well.