A short (5-6 foot tall) landrace popcorn that is also early maturing and rather productive. Being a primitive popcorn, it can still be found as a relic at low elevations in the Yucatan Peninsula. The collections that are pure or close to pure are rare and hard to find. This landrace was probably distributed widely in the tropical areas but it not as widely distributed today. Nal-Tel's name  is of Mayan origin, making this landrace likely date back to the Mayan Empire. Nal means ear of corn and tel means rooster. Since the rooster is an early riser and the corn is an early maturing one, tel was placed at the end of it to designate as so.