MALVACEAE— GOSSYPIUM 



625 



Gossypium herbaceum L. Common Upland Cotton 



An annual, 3-6 feet high ; leaves with 5 short and roundish lobes ; flowers 

 large, pale yellow, turning rose color; seeds covered with cotton. Prof. L. H. 

 Dewey thinks that our upland cotton should be referred to G. hirsutum (G. 

 herbaceum), which is a native of Mexico. ^ The crop in India, according to 

 Dr. H. J. Webber is derived chiefly from G. herbaceum, and in Egypt, the crop 

 is obtained chiefly from G. barbadense. In warm climates, cotton is a peren- 

 nial. Cotton was cultivated long before the Christian era. It is one of the 

 most important crops of the world. Dr. Webber states that in 1792 the crop 

 was 60,0(K) bales; in 1820, 6,000 bales; in 1860, the product increased to 4,4«3,311 

 bales, reaching 8,547,468 bales in 1892, and in 1904, 13,693,279 bales. In a single 

 century, from 1804 to 1904, the crop increased from 130,000 bales, valued at $13,- 

 000,014, to 13,693,279 bales valued at $557,147,306. In the early history of cotton 

 cultivation, the seeds were not valued at all. Growers were troubled to know 

 how to get rid of them. But in 1904 the seeds alone were valued at $90,258,- 

 227.86, making the total value of that year's crop, unmanufactured, $647,405,- 

 534.51. 



Fig. 353. Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum) : 1, 

 a plant with flowers and leaves; 2, a cotton boll; 3, 

 seed. (Strasburger, Noll, Schenck and Schimper.) 



Distribution. Commonly cultivated in the Southern States. 

 Poisonous properties. The root is commonly used in the south and tropical 

 countries to produce abortion. Dr. Johnson says : 



Cotton acts as an abortifacient. Its action upon the uterus is similar to that of ergot, 

 and it is used instead of the latter in cases of uterine inertia during parturition, and in 

 amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, and scanty menstruation. Whether its action upon the system 

 at large be similar to that of ergot is unknown but worthy of investigation. 



* As to the botanical statues of the different species of the genus Gossypium, the following 

 papers should be consulted: L. H. Dewey Cyclopedia of Agrl. 2: 281; Advance article on 

 cotton by Webber in an earlier part of the same work; G. Volkens, Die Nutzpflanzen Togos 

 Notizblatt Konigl, Bot. Garten Berlin, App. 22, No. 2, p. 60; O. F. Cook, Origin of the 

 Hindi Cotton Cir. Bur. PI. Ind. 42. (This last paper gives some of the literature) ; Watt. St. 

 George, The Wild and Cultivated Cotton Plants of the World, London, 1907. 



