Iva annua. The photo is so badly sunbleached that it took seeing a photo of Iva annua to set my mind on the right track. I had been contemplating a Verbena species. I now carry around an umbrella and use it to block the sun when I need accurate, clean photographs. Between the blurriness and the sun bleaching, a whole part of the structire of these seed heads is not dicernable.

Iva annua

Iva annua (Sumpweed), thanks!! Looks like the seeds are edible...

A couple articals about the use of Iva annua and maize by indiginous peoples.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2759216/

https://peabody.andover.edu/2022/09/20/tamaulipas-maize/?fbclid=IwAR2Z-ApzuTpqktcCsmIK4ba6_eoBv4AC163H1R02s32xAJu-Qz5BZ5MLB10#:~:text=The%20excavations%20in%20Tamaulipas%20pushed,Perra%20Cave%2C%20Sierra%20de%20Tamaulipas

Wow, well said! What's "better" for humans, is shittier for the plants!

"Domestication is generally considered to be the end-point of a continuum that starts with exploitation of wild plants, continues through cultivation of plants selected from the wild but not yet genetically different from wild plants, and terminates in fixation, through human selection, of morphological and hence genetic differences distinguishing a domesticate from its wild progenitor. These differences constitute the domestication syndrome and generally render the domesticate less capable of survival in the wild, thus dependent on man for its growth and reproduction. Features of the domestication syndrome include loss of dispersal, increase in size (especially of the harvested part of the plant), loss of seed dormancy and loss of chemical or mechanical protection against herbivores."

There was a couple living in the midwest, who grew red Salvia spendens for decades. They only collected the seeds of the largest plants for several years. They ended up with a shrub sized Salvia that grew taller than 3 feet. The woman's name was Yvonne, and they named the plant Yvonne's Salvia. The seeds were being shared between people at gardenweb. I managed to find seeds and I ended up with 3 plants in pots that were huge. I must have forgotten to collect seeds, so I only grew them for that 1 year. If they had been elegans or farinosa, I would have definately collected seeds. I wonder if the tomatoes with seedlings growing out of them on the vine, are the result of the loss of seed dormancy?