[Sca-cooks] maize and cubits

[David Friedman]

...

>Columbus first records maize as a type of millet, but he was 
>apparently also aware of the differences.  Europeans were quite 
>aware of millet having grown panic, foxtail, pearl and probably 
>other varieties for food.
>
>Rauwulf was a trained physician and botantis from Augsburg and would 
>have been able to differentiate the various types of millet and 
>other grains including Indian corn.  While the above quote comes 
>from Rauwolf's travel book, his Vieretes Kreutterbuech might prove 
>more enlightening about the actual plant.  (I haven't chased down 
>the text yet.)

My memory is that _Maize in the Great Herbals_, by Finan, says that 
Maize was called Indian corn not because of the Amerind connection 
but because it was misidentified with an Indian corn described by 
Pliny. I have no idea if that was a variety of millet or not.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com