Maize (Zea mays), known as "corn" by most English-speakers, is a cereal grain domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents. Corn, also called maize, is a cereal grass related to wheat, rice, oats, and barley. It is a plant whose food value and wide variety of uses make it the most important crop grown in the United States and one of the most important in the world. In order of world grain production, corn ranks second after wheat and is followed by third-ranking rice. Corn is raised as source of food and food products for people, livestock feed, and industrial products including ceramics, explosives, construction materials, metal molds, paints, paper goods, textiles, industrial alcohols, and ethanol.
