Zea mays , corn or maize, is a annual grass in the Poaceae (grass family) that originated in Central America and is one of the top three cereal crops grown in the world, along with rice ( Oryza sativa ) and wheat ( Triticum spp.), with 2010 global commercial production of dried corn totaling 844.4 million metric tons, harvested from 161.9 million hectares.
Many of the Corn-derived ingredients belong to a large and diverse class of materials that are not defined chemically. The majority of the materials in this class are mixtures derived from plants (herbs, roots, flowers, fruits, or seeds). In cosmetics and personal care products, these ingredients have a variety of functions, including abrasives, absorbants, binders, bulking agents, hair conditioning agents and skin conditioning agents. Zea Mays (Corn) Starch also functions as a skin protectant .
