Floral transition mechanisms in maize are poorly understood compared to other species. Maize 'indeterminate1' ('id1') encodes a key flowering time regulator that acts in leaves to mediate the production or transmission of florigenic signals. In 'Arabidopsis', the FT protein is widely accepted as the archetypical florigen. Maize ' Zea CENTRORADIALIS' genes ('ZCN') encompass a large family of 'FT'- related genes. This study examines whether one of these genes, 'ZCN8', encodes a maize florigen. My results show that 'id1' acts upstream of 'ZCN8 ' to control its expression, suggesting a new link to flowering control in temperate, day-neutral maize. In teosinte, a tropical progenitor of maize that requires short day photoperiods to induce flowering, 'ZCN8' is highly upregulated in leaves under inductive photoperiods. Moreover, vascular specific expression of 'ZCN8' in 'Arabidopsis' rescues the 'ft-1' mutation, demonstrating that 'ZCN8 ' acts as a florigen that integrates endogenous and environmental signals in maize.