Quapaw Red Dent Flour Corn: Southeastern American Eight-Row 
(Zea mays)
The Quapaw peoples (Ugahxpa in their language) are a division of the Dhegiha Sioux who moved west from the Ohio Valley into what is now Arkansas. The exact date of this forced migration (due to pressure from the Iroquois) has been the subject of dispute among academics and may have occurred gradually rather than all at once.  They appear to have been on the losing side of the Beaver Wars during which the Iroquois cleared Ohio of indigenous peoples so that it would serve as a hunting reserve for furs. 
 
By the mid-1600s the Quapaw were well-documented in several villages along the Mississippi River, where they engaged in trade with the French.  Unfortunately, these villages were decimated by smallpox once contact with Europeans was made. Thus, the tribe fragmented into small, scattered bands that were eventually removed to Oklahoma in 1834 by the U.S. Government. This is where the tribe is located today. 
 
The handsome magenta-colored Quapaw corn is thought to have originated from the Osage, who grow a corn with similar traits although slightly different color. Quapaw Red Dented Flour Corn is a genetic cross between dent and flour types and thus exhibits characteristics of both. This crossing of types occurred after 1700 during the period of tribal dislocation.  Seed was collected directly from the Quapaw reservation by Pioneer Hybrid Seed International and then donated to USDA in 1954.  The seed company gave the corn its present non-Indian name.
 
~100 seeds per starter packet.
 
This is a 120-day corn growing 6 to 10 feet tall depending on the soil. The ears are large, measuring 8 ½ inches in length, with 8 rows of kernels on white cobs.   In the traditional foodways of the Quapaw, this corn was used…