17*2 



HENDERSONS HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



GOR 



Gorse or Goss. Names gi%'en to the Whin, Ulex 

 Europ(2ufi. 



Gossy'pium. Cotton Plant. From goz, or 

 golhro, an Arabic word signifying a soft sub- 

 stancf. Nat. Old. Muhuceve. 



There are several distinct species of cotton 

 plants, and a great manj* varieties. Some are 

 herbaceous annuals, others shrubs three or 

 four feet in height, and others attain a height 

 of from fifteen to twenty feet. The stems are 

 smooth or hairy, leaves either three or five 

 lobed, fine shaped, cordate, blunt, or lanceo- 

 late. The flowers are large, with yellow or 

 white petals, and a purplish center, and are 

 succeeded hy pointed pods, which, on coming 

 to maturity, burst, and display a profusion of 

 white or yellowish down that forms the cot- 

 ton of commerce. In the center of this down 

 are contained the seeds, varying in number 

 from ten to thirty, according to the species, 

 of a dark brown color, and of a very oily 

 nature. The early history of the Cotton plant 

 is involved in obscuritj', nor can it be ascer- 

 tained in what region of the globe it was first 

 cultivated and applied to purposes of domes- 

 tic use. Herodotus, Avho wrote about 450 

 B. C, and who had traveled into Egypt, and 

 was familiar with its productions, does not 

 describe the Cotton plant as existing there, 

 but gives some obscure hints of such a plant 

 being in use in India. The inhabitants of 

 India, he says, possess a kind of plant which, 

 instead of fruit, produces wool of a finer and 

 better quality than that of sheep ; of this the 

 natives make their clothes. When describing 

 the corselet of Amasis, he accordingly desig- 

 nated Cotton under the name of tree-wool, a 

 combination of terms which the Germans use 

 for the same substance at the present day. 

 His particularly detailing the linen garments 

 of the Egyptians, and their mode of weaving 

 linen cloth, as differing from that of the 

 Greeks, while he omits all mention of the 

 manufacture of cotton garments, would lead 

 us to suppose that the Cotton plant was 

 unknown to the Egj'ptians ; and that, if they 

 possessed Cotton cloth at all, it was imported 

 from India. Plinj', however, in his work on 

 Natural History, describes the Cotton plant as 

 a small shrub grooving in Upper Egypt, called 

 by some Xylon, and by others Gossypium, the 

 seeds of which are surrounded by a soft 

 downy substance of a dazzling whiteness, and 

 which is manufactured into cloth much 

 esteemed by the Egyptian priests. This was 

 five centuries after the time in which Herodo- 

 tus wrote, and during this period the plant 

 may have become more common. From Pli- 

 ny's account, it would not appear that Cotton 

 was much used at Rome, even in the first cen- 

 turj' of the Christian era, nor for many centu- 

 ries afterward was its use introduced into 

 Europe. But in the ninth century the Ara- 

 bians, who were then in possession of Egypt, 

 appear to have used Cotton cloth for their 

 ordinary garments ; for one of the first 

 remarks of two Arabian travelers, who went 

 to China at that period, was, that the Chinese, 

 instead of weaving Cotton, as they and their 

 countrymen did, chiefly used silk stuffs. It is 

 probable, then, that the Cotton plant first 

 came from Persia to Egypt, whence it spread 

 into Asia Minor, and latterly to the islands of 

 the Archipelago. In the time of Tournefort, 

 who visited these islands, Milo was celebrated 



GOU 



for its Cotton. The Cotton now raised in 

 small quantities in the Cyclades possesses 

 that dazzling whiteness which Pliny describes 

 as the property of the Egyptian Cotton. The 

 Cotton plant has been grown from an early 

 period, in the West Indies, in the Southern 

 States, and in South America. Whether any 

 of the species are natives of this Continent, it 

 is difficult to say ; the probability is, however, 

 that it was introduced, soon after the dis- 

 covery of the West Indies, into these settle- 

 ments, from Smyrna. It should be stated, 

 however, that Ct)tt()n cloth has been found in 

 the tombs of the Incas of Peru. The exten- 

 sive cultivation of Cotton in this country is of 

 a recent date. In 1784, eight bags were sent 

 from this country to England, which were 

 seized, on tiie ground that so much Cotton 

 could not be produced in the United States. 

 Since the Revolution, the increase of produc- 

 tion has been steady and rapid. Of the spe- 

 cies under cultivation, G. Barbadense is the 

 one grown in the United States, and of this 

 there are two varieties, the Upland Cotton, or 

 short staple, and the Sea Island Cotton, or 

 long staple. This species is a native of India, 

 whence it was transplanted into the West 

 Indies, and from there into the United States. 

 G. herbaceum, the herbaceous Cotton plant, is 

 the species cultivated throughout Europe and 

 Asia. It is an annual plant, growing to the 

 height of about twenty inches. The Tree 

 Cotton, G. arboreum, is a perennial species, 

 growing from fifteen to twenty feet high, and 

 is considerably grown in the African Colonies, 

 but does not yield a very fine stai)le. A great 

 impetus has been given of late years to the 

 cultivation of Cotton in India, and its devel- 

 opment has been largely increased by the 

 opening up of railroads, etc., and )jy the intro- 

 duction of American varieties, and of new 

 forms adapted for special purposes. Among 

 these latter may be mentioned the crossed 

 seedlings produced by Major Tre%-or Clarke, a 

 collection of which exhibited in the London 

 International Exiiibition in 1872 caused con- 

 siderable excitement at the time. G. Bahma, 

 Bahma, is a variety that originated in Egypt 

 several years ago, and is said to be a hybrid 

 between the Eg^'ptian Cotton and Hibiscus 

 esculentus. It differs from other Cottons in its 

 larger size and its erect, almost unbranched 

 habit. It also produces more Cotton. Avery 

 coarse growing species, G. hombyx-ceUa, is 

 common in the West Indies, said to be indig- 

 enous there. The trunk of this species is 

 sufficiently large to hollow out for canoes, 

 and yields a valuable lumber ; the Cotton is of 

 a coarse, inferior quality. The general uses 

 of this staple are too important and well 

 known to require comment. The seed has, 

 however, a value but little known. Near the 

 City of New York there is an oil mill that 

 makes daily several thousand gallons of oil 

 from Cotton seed, which is sent to Italy, there 

 bottled, and sent all over the world, and sold 

 as a very superior quality of Olive Oil, for table 

 use. The seed is also valuable as a manure. 



Go-to-bed-at-noon. See Tragopogon. 



Goua'nia. Chaw Stick. Named after A. Gouan, 

 once Professor of Botany at Montpelier. Nat. 

 Ord. Rhamnacece. 



A genus of climbing tropical shrubs, con- 

 taining upward of twenty species. The most 



