ratio of word probabilities predicted from brain for corn and lettuce

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corn

lettuce

top 10 words in brain distribution (in article):
color drink beer water produce green pipe beverage red white
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article):
species century form produce type begin family refer world plant
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article):
light lamp wine bottle wear valve horse bulb cocacolum beam
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article):
wear horse music instrument church play string time bird woman
times more probable under corn 30 20 10 6 4 2.5 1.25 1 1.25 2.5 4 6 10 20 30 times more probable under lettuce
(words not in the model)
Maize'" ("Zea mays" L. ssp. "mays"), known as corn'" in some countries, is a cereal grain domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents. After European contact with the Americas in the late 15th and early 16th century, maize spread to the rest of the world. Maize is the most widely grown crop in the Americas (332 million tonnes annually in the United States alone). Hybrid maize, due to its high grain yield as a result of heterosis ("hybrid vigor"), is preferred by farmers over conventional varieties. While some maize varieties grow up to 7 metres (23 ft) tall, most commercially grown maize has been bred for a standardized height of 2.5 metres (8 ft). Sweet corn is usually shorter than field-corn varieties. Naming conventions. The term "maize" derives from the Spanish form ("maíz") of the indigenous Taino term for the plant, and was the form most commonly heard in the United Kingdom. In the United States, Canada (maïs in French speaking Canadian regions) and Australia, the usual term is "corn", which originally referred to any grain, but which now refers exclusively to maize, having been shortened from the form "Indian corn" (which currently, at least in the U.S. & Canada, is often used to refer specifically to multi-colored "field corn" cultivars). Physiology. Maize stems superficially resemble bamboo canes and the internodes can reach 20–30 centimetres (8–12 in). Maize has a very distinct growth form; the lower leaves being like broad flags, 50–100 centimetres long and 5–10 centimetres wide (2–4 ft by 2–4 in); the stems are erect, conventionally 2–3 metres (7–10 ft) in height, with many nodes, casting off flag-leaves at every node. Under these leaves and close to the stem grow the ears. They grow about 3 milimetres a day. The ears are female inflorescences, tightly covered over by several layers of leaves, and so closed-in by them to the stem that they do not show themselves easily until the emergence of the pale yellow silks from the leaf whorl at the end of the ear. The silks are elongated stigmas that look like tufts of hair, at first green, and later red or yellow. Plantings for silage are even denser, and achieve an even lower percentage of ears and more plant matter. Certain varieties of maize have been bred to produce many additional developed ears, and these are the source of the "baby corn" that is used as a vegetable in Asian cuisine. Maize is a facultative long-night plant and flowers in a certain number of growing degree days >50 °F (10 °C) in the environment to which it is adapted. The magnitude of the influence that long nights have on the number of days that must pass before maize flowers is genetically prescribed and regulated by the phytochrome system. Photoperiodicity can be eccentric in tropical cultivars, while the long days characteristic of higher latitudes allow the plants to grow so tall that they do not have enough time to produce seed before being killed by frost. These attributes, however, may prove useful in using tropical maize for biofuels. The apex of the stem ends in the tassel, an inflorescence of male flowers. Each silk may become pollinated to produce one kernel of corn. Young ears can be consumed raw, with the cob and silk, but as the plant matures (usually during the summer months) the cob becomes tougher and the silk dries to inedibility. By the end of the growing season, the kernels dry out and become difficult to chew without cooking them tender first in boiling water. Modern farming techniques in developed countries usually rely on dense planting, which produces on average only about 0.9 ears per stalk because it stresses the plants. The kernel of corn has a pericarp of the fruit fused with the seed coat, typical of the grasses. It is close to a multiple fruit in structure, except that the individual fruits (the kernels) never fuse into a single mass. The grains are about the size of peas, and adhere in regular rows round a white pithy substance, which forms the ear. An ear contains from 200 to 400 kernels, and is from 10–25 centimetres (4–10 inches) in length. They are of various colors: blackish, bluish-gray, red, white and yellow. When ground into flour, maize Lettuce'" ("Lactuca sativa") is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. In many countries, it is typically eaten cold, raw, in salads, hamburgers, tacos, and in many other dishes. In some places, including China, lettuce is typically eaten cooked and use of the stem is as important as use of the leaf. Both the English name and the Latin name of the genus are ultimately derived from "lac", the Latin word for “milk”, referring to the plant’s milky juice. Mild in flavour, it has been described over the centuries as a cooling counterbalance to other ingredients in a salad. In his humorous essay "100 Things I chew", filmmaker John Waters refers to iceberg lettuce as "the polyester of greens". Description. The lettuce plant has a short stem initially (a rosette growth habit), but when it blooms, the stem lengthens, branches, and produces many flower heads that look like those of dandelions, but smaller. This is referred to as bolting. When grown to eat, lettuce is harvested before it bolts. Lettuce is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera. The largest lettuce head, of the Salad Bowl cultivar, weighed 11 kg (25 lb) grown by Colin Bowcock of Willaston, England, in 1974. Cultivation. Lettuce is grown commercially worldwide, hardy to Zone 6, requiring light, sandy, humus rich, moist soil. It dislikes dry conditions and can cause plants to bolt (go to seed). Early and late sowing in sunny positions or summer crops in shade. It is considered fairly easy to grow and a suitable crop for beginners. "Planting Depth:" Some resources suggest planting seeds by covering lightly with soil while others suggest a depth of 1 4 to 1 2 inch "Planting Spacing:" Thin seedlings to 10 cm (4 in) apart for leaf lettuce [1 sq. m (9 sq ft)] and 6 to 8 inches apart for Cos or Butterhead (4 sq ft 1 sq ft), transplant Crisphead seedlings 10 to 12 inches apart in the row (1 sq ft). "Row Spacing:" 12 18 inches apart History. The earliest depiction of lettuce is in the carvings at the temple of Senusret I at Karnak, where he offers milk to the god Min, to whom the lettuces was sacred. Lettuce was considered an aphrodisiac food in Ancient Egypt, and appears as such in "The Contendings of Horus and Seth". Later, Ancient Greek physicians believed lettuce could act as a sleep-inducing agent. The Romans cultivated it, and it eventually made its way to France cultivated of the Papal Court at Avignon. Christopher Columbus introduced lettuce to the new world. Cultivars. There are six commonly recognised Cultivar Groups of lettuce which are ordered here by head formation and leaf structure; there are hundreds of cultivars of lettuce selected for leaf shape and colour, as well as extended field and shelf life, within each of these Cultivar Groups: Some lettuces (especially iceberg) have been specifically bred to remove the bitterness from their leaves. These lettuces have a high water content with very little nutrient value. The more bitter lettuces and the ones with pigmented leaves contain antioxidants. Breeding. "L. sativa" can easily be bred with closely related species in "Lactuca" such as "L. serriola", "L. saligna", and "L. virosa", and breeding programs for cultivated lettuce have included those species to broaden the available gene pool. Starting in the 1990s, such programs began to include more distantly related species such as "L. tatarica". Seed Saving. Inbreeding plant, flowers form in heads of 10-25 individual florets of perfect flowers. Considered suitable for seed-saving beginners Production. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that world production of lettuce and chicory for calendar year 2007 was 23.55 million tons, primarily coming from China(51%), United States(22%) and Spain(5%). Nutrition. Lettuce is a fat free, low calorie food. It is a valuable source of vitamin A and folic acid. Lactucarium (or “Lettuce Opium”) is a mild opiate-like substance that is contained in all types of lettuce. Both the Romans and Egyptians took advantage of this property eating lettuce at the end of a meal to induce sleep. Religious restrictions. The Yazidi of northern Iraq consider eating lettuce taboo.