Zea is a genus of flowering plants in the grass family. The best-known species is Z. mays (variously called maize, corn, or Indian corn), one of the most important crops for human societies throughout much of the world. Several wild species are commonly known as teosintes and are native to Mesoamerica. The maize stem varies in height from less than 0,6m in some genotypes to more than 5m in others. It is cylindrical, solid and clearly divided into nodes and internodes. Nodes hold the leaves and internodes are the spaces in between. A maize stem may have eight to 21 internodes.