Cotton plant
Cotton bolls in the field
The cotton plant is a tropical and subtropical shrub of the Genus Gossypium (Family Malvaceae). Commercial cotton fibers, used to manufacture cloth, are derived from the fruit of the cotton plant.
In the wild cotton shrubs can grow up to 3 m (10 ft) high. The leaves are broad and have three to five (or even seven) lobes. The seeds are contained in a capsule called a boll, each seed surrounded by a downy fibre called lint. Commercial species of cotton plant are G. hirsutum (US and Australia), G. arboreum and G. herbaceum (Asia), and G. barbadense (Egypt). While the lint naturally occurs in colors of white, brown, and green, fears of contaminating the genetics of white cotton has led many cotton-growing locations to ban growing of colored cotton varieties.
Commercial species
- Gossypium arboreum – tree cotton
- Gossypium barbadense L. – Creole cotton or Sea island cotton
- Gossypium herbaceum – Levant cotton
- Gossypium hirsutum L. – upland cotton
Other species of Gossypium
Gossypium tomentosum Nutt. ex Seem (Ma‘o or Hawaiian cotton) is a species endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The seed hairs (lint) are short and reddish brown, unsuitable for spinning or twisting into thread.
