Gossypium
Family :
Famille :
Malvaceae
Synonym(s) :
Synonyme(s) :
Erioxylum Rose & Standley (FNA 1993+; USDA-ARS 2024)
Ingenhouzia De Candolle (FNA 1993+; USDA-ARS 2024)
Selera A. Gray (FNA 1993+); Selera Ulbr. (USDA-ARS 2024)
Notoxylinon Lewton (USDA GRIN-ARS 2024)
Ultragossypium Roberty (USDA GRIN-ARS 2024)
Thurberia A. Gray (USDA GRIN-ARS 2024)
Common Name(s) :
Nom(s) commun(s) :
Cotton
(FNA 1993+; USDA GRIN-ARS 2024)
Gossypium barbadense seeds
Gossypium barbadense seeds
Gossypium barbadense seeds
Gossypium hirsutum seeds
Gossypium sp. (cf. G. hirsutum) whole seed exposed
Gossypium sp. seed, hilum close-up
Gossypium sp. seed, longitudinal section
Gossypium sp. seed, partly linted
Explore More :
Explore plus :
Overview
Aperçu
Regulation :
Remarques Réglementation:
Regulation Notes:
Distribution :
Répartition :
Gossypium species are found worldwide, native throughout the tropics and subtropics in the Americas, Africa, Arabian Peninsula east to India, plus Australia and numerous South Pacific Islands. It is also introduced to parts of Europe, Asia, and North America (POWO 2024) with 50 species (FNA 1993+) or up to 69 accepted species (GBIF 2024) found worldwide.
In Canada, no Gossypium species have been reported (Brouillet et al. 2010+).
In the USA, there are 6 reported species of Gossypium, 2 of which are native to the southern USA and 1 endemic to Hawaii. An additional 3 species are reported, but only 1 is confirmed, and it was introduced to Hawaii, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico (USDA-NRCS 2024).
Habitat and Crop Association :
Habitat et Cultures Associées :
None of the wild Gossypium species in the genus are reported as being agricultural pests. This is further supported by the fact that none have reported developing herbicide resistance (Heap, 2024) despite their heavy use on cultivated species.
Economic Use, cultivation area, and Weed Association :
Utilisation économique, zone de culture et association de mauvaises herbes :
Gossypium hirsutum L. (upland or Mexican cotton), Gossypium barbadense L. (sea island cotton), Gossypium arboreum (tree cotton), and Gossypium herbaceum (Levant cotton) are widely cultivated species worldwide in the tropics and subtropics with about 25 million tonnes being produced every year. The major producers in order of greatest to least production are China, India, Brazil, the USA, and, with lesser amounts produced in Pakistan, Australia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Argentina and Mali (World Population Review 2024).
Globally, cotton production has an economic impact of about $600 billion annually and is the world’s leading natural fibre produced and commercialized (Fei et al. 2022). Gossypium is mostly produced for fibre used in cotton clothing and textile production, with 90% of that being Gossypium hirsutum for its high yield and ginning percentage. Additionally, cottonseed oil is a valuable commodity worldwide with an oil content of 19-28% in its seeds, ranking fourth in global production behind soy, rapeseed, and sunflower. It also ranks second after soy as a source of plant protein (Akin 2024). Globally, the cottonseed oil market is expected to reach a record value of USD $5,891 million in 2024 thanks to its increasing popularity for its extended shelf life and enhanced food flavour, and lesser but increasingly popular use in the cosmetics and personal care sectors (Future Market Insights 2024).
Numerous grass and broadleaf weeds affect cotton crops. Common weedy grasses include Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. (bermudagrass), Cyperus esculentus L. (nutsedge), Digitaria spp. Haller (crabgrass), Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv. (barnyard grass), and Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. (johnsongrass). The more problematic broadleaf weeds include Amaranthus spp. L. (pigweed), Physalis spp. L. (gooseberry), Chenopodium spp. L. (goosefoot), Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav. (silverleaf nightshade), and Xanthium strumarium L. (common cocklebur) (Pala et al. 2021). While chemical control is the easiest and most economical, increasing levels of herbicide resistance in the weed species that infest it is becoming problematic.
Duration of Life Cycle :
Durée du cycle vital:
Perennial (often cultivated as an annual crop)
Dispersal Unit Type :
Type d’unité de dispersion :
Seed
Distribution of Gossypium L. in Canada and the United States (source: USDA-NRCS 2024)
Global distribution of Gossypium L. (source: GBIF 2024)
General Information
RENSEIGNEMENTS GÉNÉRAUX
Cotton has been harvested and used as a valuable fibre for many millennia. Scientists have discovered cotton bolls (bolls, not balls, are the name of the hairy cotton fibres that cover the seeds) and cloth in caves in Mexico that were at least 7,000 years old. In the Indus River Valley in Pakistan and the Nile Valley in Egypt, cotton has been grown and woven into cloth since at least 3,000 BCE (Cotton.org n.d.).
In North America, the Pima and Papago peoples used Gossypium species as a food source, and the Zuni, Havasupai, Isleta, Navajo, and Papago used it for cordage, fiber, or clothing while the Tewa and Koasati used it as a pediatric and dermatological aid, and to ease childbirth (BRIT NAEB 2019).
The history of cotton production in the Americas was heavily tied to the slave trade. Since cotton picking and cleaning was a very labour-intensive process, it fueled the demand for importing more slaves from western Africa to work in cotton fields. While the invention of the cotton gin in the US was believed to result in a reduced demand for slave labour, the opposite happened. Increased production from the cotton engine (‘gin’) machines increased demand for slaves. Finally, the Civil War in the USA ended slavery there (Timmons 2018).
Conventionally grown cotton uses 24% of the world’s insecticides and 11% of the world’s pesticides, resulting in hundreds of thousands of pesticide poisonings each year, made worse by GMO cotton designed to tolerate even heavier pesticide use. Furthermore, the intensive use of pesticides on cotton has resulted in at least 40 weed species developing resistance to glyphosate (Bhad 2022). Regenerative farming practices could help reverse this trend by creating more naturally resilient crops that are less dependent on pesticide use to achieve high yields while protecting biodiversity and conserving our soil resources.
.
Hand-picking some wild cotton bolls from Gossypium hirsutum, the most widely grown cotton species in the world. This native plant was found near Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico. (Lyrae Willis, Environmental Science Freelance Writer, lyraenatureblog.com)
Identification
Identification
-
Capsule
Size
Gossypium species capsule length range: 2-4 cm (FNA 1993+)
- Gossypium hirsutum L. capsule length: 2-4 cm (Fryxell 1992)
- Gossypium barbadense L. capsule length: 3.5-6 cm (Fryxell 1992)
- Gossypium arboreum L. capsule length: 4.4-6.2 cm; width: 2.5-3.6 cm (Mohan et al. 2001)
Shape
- Gossypium species capsules may be near globose, broad egg-shaped (e.g. G. hirsutum and G. herbaceum), cone- or narrow egg-shaped (e.g. G. arboreum, G. barbadense) (Fryxell 1992)
Surface Texture
- Gossypium capsules are generally hairless (glabrous)
- Capsule surface texture may be smooth (e.g. G. hirsutum), dotted with sparse glands (e.g. G. herbaceum) or densely pitted with sunken glands (e.g. G. arboreum, G. barbadense)
- Capsules have a papery, leathery or woody consistency (Fryxell 1992)
Colour
- Gossypium capsules are generally dark brown or reddish-brown when mature
Other Features
- Gossypium capsules may have 3-5 chambers (locules) (Fryxell 1992)
- Capsules open by 3-5 triangular valves, opening widely (e.g. G. arboreum) or not (e.g. G. herbaceum)
- Gossypium capsules can contain 2–24 seeds, one to several per locule (FNA 1993+)
-
Seed
Size
Gossypium species seed length range: 4-12 mm (Fryxell 1992)
- Gossypium hirsutum L. seed length: 8-10 mm (FNA 1993+)
- Gossypium hirsutum L. seed length: 8.97-9.83 mm; width: 5.10-5.63 mm (Park et al. 2007)
- Gossypium barbadense L. seed length: 8-10 mm (Fryxell 1992)
Shape
- Gossypium seeds are generally elongated cone-shaped or oval shaped with a pointed end, may be slightly transversely curved, terete in 3 dimensions
- Some seeds may have angled or flat sides
Surface Texture
- Seeds of Gossypium species are generally hairy with long hairs, but some species have short hairs, or almost hairless (e.g. species in subgenera Houzingenia Fryx. and Sturtia (R. Brown) Todaro) (Fryxell 1992)
- Hairs are generally flat, twisted and spreading in commercial varieties, and simple, non-twisted hairs close to the seed in some wild species (Hutchinson et al. 1945)
- The ends of the seed generally have short, dense hairs
- The seed surface is generally smooth, with a few longitudinal wrinkles and a ridge (raphe) along one side
- The hilum at the wide end is circular with radiating striations
Colour
- Gossypium seeds are generally dark brown coloured
- The seed hairs are generally white coloured in commercial varieties, and wild species may have white, light brown or reddish brown hairs (Fryxell 1992)
- G. arboreum may have greenish seed hairs (Watt 1926)
Other Features
- Seeds of some plants in G. barbadense will fuse together within each locule and disperse as a mass, known as ‘kidney cotton’ (Turcott and Percy 1990)
Gossypium barbadense seeds
-
Embryo
Size
- Embryo fills the seed
Shape
- Embryo is folded
Endosperm
- Nutritive tissue stored in the cotyledons (Fryxell 1968)
Other Features
- Embryo is mottled with reddish glands in the majority of Gossypium species (Fryxell 1968)
- Embryo is generally without glands in Gossypium species of subgenus Sturtia (R. Brown) Todaro (Fryxell 1992)
- The Gossypium species detailed in the Seed Feature Description have glandular embryos
- Cultivated varieties of G. hirsutum have been produced lacking the reddish glands (Fryxell 1968)
- The glands produce gossypol, a toxic antimicrobial compound, undesirable in Gossypium oil and flour (meal) (Fryxell 1968)
Gossypium sp. seed, longitudinal section
Identification Tips
CONSEILS POUR L’IDENTIFICATION
Gossypium seeds are commonly identified by the dense, long-woolly hairs covering the surface, and that protrude from the open capsules. Seeds without hairs may be identified by the dark-brown colour, the elongated cone shape and a ridge (raphe) along one side. Gossypium seeds also generally have short, brown hairs at the ends, and a circular hilum with radiating striations at the wide end.
Gossypium barbadense seeds
Additional Botany Information
AUTRES RENSEIGNEMENTS BOTANIQUES
Flowers/Inflorescence
- Solitary flowers (rarely several) on small flower stalks (pedicels) found in leaf axils with 3 deciduous or persistent leafy bractlets (FNA 1993+) that are usually distinct but may be partially united and are often large, leafy, deeply incised or toothed but may be small and entire, enclosing the floral bud and persistent in fruit (WFO 2024).
- Calyx is small, cup-shaped, not inflated with 5 teeth or sometimes lobes that are truncated, egg-shaped, or triangular, ribbed or not, hairy or not and persistent but not accrescent in fruit (FNA 1993+; WFO 2024).
- Petals are whitish, cream, or yellow, with or without a large red or purple spot near the base and often with oil glands throughout, egg-shaped and widest at the tip (obovate), and adhered to the base of the elongated staminal tube (but tube is shorter than the petals) (FNA 199+; WFO 2024); forming a bell-shaped (campanulate) to funnel-shaped corolla that is usually large and showy (WFO 2024).
- Ovary with 3–5 chambers (carpels) with an unbranched style with enlarged stigmatic tips (rarely divided) that extend downward onto the style (FNA 1993+; WFO 2024).
- Conspicuous staminal tube with many anthers, shorter and included within the corolla (WFO 2024).
Vegetative Features
- Perennial shrubs or rarely trees, stellate-hairy or hairless, with dark oil gland spots throughout (WFO 2024), stems that are usually erect but rarely sprawling along the ground (procumbent) (FNA 1993+; WFO 2024).
- Leaves with persistent stipules at the base of their leaf stalks (petioles) that are linear, curving (falcate), or tapering to a point (subulate) (FNA 1993+); deciduous or persistent, sometimes very prominent (WFO 2024).
- Leaf blades are egg-shaped, unlobed, shallowly lobed, or deeply 3-9 lobed (palmatilobed) with a heart-shaped base and entire margins (FNA 1993+; WFO 2024); usually with 1 or more foliar nectaries on the ends of the lateral veins on the lower leaf surface (WFO 2024).
Gossypium hirsutum flower close-up showing the common showy bell-shaped corolla with creamy yellow petals, red spots near the base and conspicuous oil glands throughout. Also note the staminal column ending in a style and stigma with numerous stamens along its length. Photo taken in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico. (Lyrae Willis, Environmental Science Freelance Writer, lyraenatureblog.com)
Similar Species
ESPÈCES SEMBLABLES
Similar species are based on a study of seed morphology of various species, and those with similar dispersal units are identified. The study is limited by physical specimen and literature availability at the time of examination, and possibly impacted by the subjectivity of the authors based on their knowledge and experience. Providing similar species information for seed identification is to make users aware of similarities that could possibly result in misidentification.
Thespesia Solander ex Corrêa species
Thespesia is a tropical shore-line genus that is likely the closest relative to Gossypium (Hutchinson 1947). The capsules of Thespesia are near circular (oblate), with a woody consistency and generally remain closed, and Gossypium capsules are variously shaped, many are cone-or egg-shaped, and open at maturity (FNA 1993+). The seeds of Thespesia are brownish-black and are short-hairy (FNA 1993+), compared to Gossypium seeds that are dark brown, and generally long-hairy.
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Comparison Window
Fenêtre de comparaison
MAIN SPECIES
ESPÈCES PRINCIPALES
Gossypium
Gossypium
Malvaceae
Gossypium barbadense seeds
MAIN SPECIES
ESPÈCES PRINCIPALES
Gossypium
Gossypium
Malvaceae
Gossypium barbadense seeds
MAIN SPECIES
ESPÈCES PRINCIPALES
Gossypium
Gossypium
Malvaceae
Gossypium hirsutum seeds
MAIN SPECIES
ESPÈCES PRINCIPALES
Gossypium
Gossypium
Malvaceae
Gossypium sp. (cf. G. hirsutum) whole seed exposed
MAIN SPECIES
ESPÈCES PRINCIPALES
Gossypium
Gossypium
Malvaceae
Gossypium sp. seed, hilum close-up
MAIN SPECIES
ESPÈCES PRINCIPALES
Gossypium
Gossypium
Malvaceae
Gossypium sp. seed, longitudinal section
MAIN SPECIES
ESPÈCES PRINCIPALES
Gossypium
Gossypium
Malvaceae
Gossypium sp. seed, partly linted
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Reference(s)
Référence(s)
Akin, Songül. 2024. The Strategic Importance of Cotton Production for the World and Türkiye. Best Crop Management and Processing Practices for Sustainable Cotton Production. IntechOpen. Chapter 7. Available at https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114084
Bhad PR. 2022. Biopesticides use on cotton and their harmful effects on human health & environment. Int J Clin Microbiol Biochem Technol. 2022; 5: 005-008. Available from: https://www.microbiochemjournal.com/articles/ijcmbt-aid1025.php
BRIT NAEB. 2019. Native American Ethnobotany Database. Brit.org. http://naeb.brit.org
Brouillet L, Desmet P, Coursol F, Meades SJ, Favreau M, Anions M, Bélisle P, Gendreau C, Shorthouse D. 2010+. Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN). Online at http://data.canadensys.net/vascan Accessed May 10, 2024.
Fei, C., Dilanchiev, A., & Romaric, S. 2022. Modeling the Impact of Cotton Production on Economic Development in Benin: A Technological Innovation Perspective. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10, 926350. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.926350
Flora of North America (FNA) Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico [Online]. 22+ vols. New York and Oxford. http://beta.floranorthamerica.org Accessed October 25, 2024.
Fryxell, P.A. 1968. A Redefinition of the Tribe Gossypieae. Botanical Gazette 129: 296-308.
Fryxell P.A. 1992. A revised taxonomic interpretation of Gossypium L. (Malvaceae). Rheedea 2(2): 108–165.
Future Market Insights. 2024. Cottonseed Oil Market. Www.futuremarketinsights.com. Retrieved May 22, 2024, from https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/cottonseed-oil-market
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) Secretariat. 2024. GBIF Home Page https://www.gbif.org Accessed May 10, 2024.
Heap, I. 2024. The International Herbicide-Resistant Weed Database. Online. Available www.weedscience.org Accessed May 10, 2024.
Hutchinson, J.B. 1947. Notes on the Classification and Distribution of Genera Related to Gossypium. The New Phytologist 46: 123-141.
Mohan, P., Singh, W. and Mukewar, P.M. 2001. Morphological and fibre characteristics of Gossypium arboreum L. germplasm lines immune to grey mildew (Ramularia areola ATK.) disease of cotton. Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources 14: 81 -84.
National Cotton Council of America. 2024. The Story of Cotton- History of Cotton. https://www.cotton.org/pubs/cottoncounts/story/#:~:text=When%20Columbus%20discovered%20America%20in Accessed on Nov 24, 2024.
Pala, Fırat & Mennan, Hüsrev. 2021. Common Weeds in Cotton Fields. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357528269_Common_Weeds_in_Cotton_Fields
Park, G.H., Kim, K.M., Kwak, T.S. and Lee, W.K. 2007. Heterosis, combining ability analysis and components of genetic variation for the yield related character in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Korean Journal of Plant Resources 20: 168-176.
Plants of the World Online (POWO). 2024. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published at http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org Accessed May 10, 2024.
Turcotte, E.L. and Percy, R.G. 1990. Genetics of Kidney Seed in Gossypium barbadense L. Weed Science 30: 384-386.
United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Services (USDA-ARS). 2024. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomysearch Accessed May 10, 2024.
United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS). 2024. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA. https://plants.usda.gov/home Accessed May 10, 2024.
Watt, J. 1926. Gossypium. Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) 1926: 193-210.
World Flora Online (WFO). 2024. Available at: http://www.worldfloraonline.org Accessed May 10, 2024.
World Population Review. 2024. Cotton Production By Country 2024. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cotton-production-by-country