section_path: Origin/External phylogeny
section_name: External phylogeny
paragraph_text: External phylogeny
  
  The maize genus Zea is relatively closely related to sorghum, both being in the PACMAD clade of Old World grasses, and much more distantly to rice and wheat, which are in the other major group of grasses, the BOP clade. It is closely related to Tripsacum, gamagrass.