Popcorn🌾

An annual in the grass family, a variety of maize (Zea mays) with small, hard-hulled kernels that burst (pop) when heated. Cultivated in Mesoamerica for thousands of years — archaeological evidence shows Native Americans were already eating popcorn. Now globally popular as the quintessential cinema snack, with major industrial production centred in the United States. Heating vaporizes the internal moisture, building pressure that ruptures the hull and lets the starch expand explosively.

Identification Points

• ✓Small, hard-hulled, rounded kernels
• ✓Bursts from steam pressure when heated
• ✓Plant form as maize but typically shorter

Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification

Phylogenetic Positionイネ科 →