Centli Michoacán 333 was included in the USDA SARE Research Project Titled “Ancestral Mexica Farming: A Comparative Yield Analysis from the 1500s” by Pantaleon Florez, Ashley Aranda, and Paola Ramírez (FNC19-1161). View the report, photo journal, and farmer ethnographies here. This sample was heavily impacted by severe flooding. Some ears of the 200 plant sample managed to pull through and produce 681 seeds.

Centli Michoacán 333’s primary race is Cacahuazintle, which is a Pre-Columbian Exotic. These are thought to have been introduced into Mexico from Central and South America in prehistoric times. All four corn varieties in this group have South American counterparts. Michoacán 333’s secondary race is Mushito; a very productive late corn grown at 2,400 meters elevation near Suchixtepec, Oaxaca.

Kernel types range from floury, to dent, to flint and cover a color spectrum including white, yellow, red pink, blue, and black-deep cherry.

This seed was collected in Michoacán de Ocampo, Mexico in November of 1983 and donated to the US National Plant Germplasm System, which is part of the Germplasm Resource Information Network (GRIN). This germplasm is still maintained in the North Central Regional Plant Induction Station (PI 484092). It was brought to the program for historical, cultural and anthropological research.