PARALLEL LEAF FORMS TN OKRA. 



25 



"okra" cotton is j^iveu in Egypt to a variety having iniusually l)roa(l 

 and lieavy leaves, the direct o])posito of tlio variation, to narrow-lol)ed 

 leaves that characterizes the so-called "okra" cottons of the United 

 States. The occurrence of broad-leaved varieties in Egyptian cotton 

 corresponds to the narrow-leaved variations in Upland cotton. Tlie 

 normal foliage of the Egyptian cotton is of the same general form as 

 some of the narrow-leaved or "okra" variations of tlie Upland type 

 of cotton. 



There is a popular idea in Egypt that the Bamieh or broad-leaved 

 type of Egyptian cotton 

 originated from natural 

 crossing of cotton with 

 okra, the same explana- 

 tion that is given for nar- 

 row-leaved variations of 

 Upland cotton in Amer- 

 ica. The Egyptian Ba- 

 mieh cotton also produces 

 all of its bolls close to the 

 main stalk, like the okra 

 plant. American Upland 

 A^arieties of the "okra" 

 type do ^lot have this 

 short-branched habit. 



The parallelism of leaf 

 characters between cot- 

 ton and okra extends 

 even to the presence of 

 a distinct red spot at the 

 base of the leaf at t\\e 

 junction with the petiole. 

 The presence of such a 

 spot on the leaves of a 

 cotton plant is reckoned 

 in Egypt as a distinctive 

 character of the inferior 

 Hindi type that is respon- 

 sible for a serious deterio- 

 ration of the Egyptian stock. The leaves of the Hindi cotton are also 

 a distinctly lighter shade of green than those of the Egyptian cotton, 

 matching the color of the okra leaves very closely. These similarities 

 are doubtless responsible for another popular theory, that the Hindi 

 contamination of the Egyptian cotton is due to crossing with the 

 okra plant. 



95213°— Bui. 221—11 4 



Fig. 14.— Youns leaf from fruitin<; branch of Egyptian cotton, 

 with three lobes and unequal stipules. (Natural size.) 



