Zea mays

Natal 8 Row, also known colloquially as isiZulu is a favoured maize variety grown in Natal by the Zulu nation. This landrace has many similarities to Hickory King, however, Natal 8 Row is favoured for its early maturity and exceptional flavour. It is a flint corn, making it the preferred choice when it comes to selecting for maize meal. It is also commonly grown and used for animal feed, and most importantly for brewing the traditional Zulu beer Umqombothi.

The earliest reference we have of this variety is from the December 1935 edition of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa journal. The industrial uses of corn were being discussed, and Natal 8 Row was one of the varieties that was being considered. This shows that Natal 8 Row was seen as a mainstream variety at the time, enough to be considered as a trial variety for their investigations.

Over the years its popularity has waned, and it's Livingseeds' fervent desire to have this superb variety become a more common and desired corn variety.

Being a landrace there is variation in both colour and row count. This variation is typically village dependent as the maize crops are locally isolated within a valley or village. Livingseeds has been selecting specifically for row count and cob length. We are very excited to watch the development of this landrace over the next few years.

Standard packet contains approx. 120 seeds

Petite packet contains approx. 40 seeds