Zea Mays L., in addition to its great economic importance, is preeminent among plants as a tool in the study of heredity. However, even though our knowledge of maize genetics has made rapid and often spectacular advances, certain problems involving basic morphology of the plant have been left unanswered. Foremost among these is that of the pistillate inflorescence, or ear, the structure of which has been discussed elsewhere (Nickerson, 1954). Another equally basic problem involves the staminate inflorescence, or tassel. Anderson (1951) briefly summarized botanical knowledge dealing with this inflorescence, and Alava (1952) showed how certain maize races could be characterized on the basis of information obtained from their tassels.Preliminary studies on tassel morphology by the senior author indicate that the somewhat stereotyped and simple construction of tassels is misleading; certain parts apparently have been subjected to reductions even greater than those affecting corresponding ear parts. Morphological analysis of the tassel as it occurs atop a typical maize plant is even more difficult than morphological analysis of the ear.One source of information on ear morphology was through studies of certain genetic forms in which particular parts were present in an accentuated form. It was felt that the same technique might profitably be applied to the tassel, since variation in maize tassels is, as in other parts of this specialized grass, variation on a theme. Specimen tassels from the collecton of sixteen tassel mutants assembled by the junior author were therefore examined. They contained a wealth of material;

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