60 



WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



Indepen- 

 dent 



centres. 



Selection. 



Sections. 



was the first to use the name Gossympines (see p. 11 above) in speaking 

 of the cotton-trees of Tylos, and from that apparently was derived the 

 modern generic name Gossypium. The Asiatic (Indian) cotton goods 

 were known to Europe and perhaps China, long before these regions 

 possessed any definite knowledge of the source of the fibre of which 

 they were made. Then followed the African and Arabian cotton and 

 cotton goods, made known chiefly through Egypt, and finally the New 

 World cottons and manufactures discovered by Columbus and his 

 followers and immediate successors. These historic facts almost of 

 necessity involve independent centres of stock, and therefore, in all 

 probability, separate plants. But in addition to the cultivated 

 cottons, there exist a good many species that botanists accept as 

 being Gossypia which have never been recorded as seen under 

 cultivation, and indeed yield so little fibre, and that of so inferior a 

 quality, that they are not likely to have been recognised as species 

 of cotton by the early cultivators. So, again, there are met with 

 here and there Gossypia that are certainly not cultivated, but may 

 be acclimatised states or ferine conditions of some of the cultivated 

 species. 



By giving attention to these indigenous and feral forms, it 

 becomes possible to obtain a fairly accurate conception of the species 

 of Gossypium, more especially the conditions that may have existed 

 prior to man's selective influence having modified and blended the 

 useful forms until it has become a matter of great difficulty to distin- 

 guish certain species from each other. 



Diagnostic Characters. The most instructive characteristics are 

 derived from the position and condition of the bracteoles ; the presence 

 or absence of nectar-yielding glands ; and the nature of the floss and 

 fuzz that surround the seed. By a study of these aspects, the species 

 may be referred to five sections that seem almost sub-generic in value, 

 since the species thus brought together are evidently closely related 

 both structurally and geographically. The sections are as follows : 



Section I., see pp. 61 to 77. 

 Section II., see pp. 77 to 163. 

 Section III., see pp. 163 to 244. 

 Section IV., see pp. 244 to 315, 

 Section V., see pp. 316 to 318. 



