corn's rows

I have never grown corn before this year but for some reason I was seized with an impulse back in er, April, I think, and found a pack of kernels. Corn is so ubiquitous it's easy to take for granted, but up close I find myself impressed with its strength, latent sweetness and those hypnotically undulating two-tone parallels. I never knew the leaves bore these stripes, a motif I would have associated with the fields the plants are grown in, not the plant itself. This one already has what I think is the pollen dusty male flower emerging from the top sheath of leaves, but I don't see any sign of the female yet, which appear lower on the plant, the silky-tassel topped nubs that become those astonishing cobs.

It's been good to get to know this plant a little better, this generous, elegant plant whose graciousness is somewhat exploited in the contemporary trend of oversweetening.