62 WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



Wild Sectional Peculiarities. Into this section I have thrown the species 



of Gossypium that have perfectly free bracteoles, that possess practically 

 no trace of extra-floral nectaries, and that have seeds with a short fuzz 

 but no true floss. They are all wild plants, or at all events species of 

 which no record exists of their ever having been systematically culti- 

 vated. The fruits are moreover so small, the seeds relatively so large, 

 and the fuzz so absolutely worthless (from the industrial standpoint) 

 that the observation becomes justified that unless as ornamental shrubs 

 they are not likely to have ever been cultivated. 



Woolly l n Chapter II., which deals with The Cotton Fibre, it will be found 



coating. 



(pp. 7, 27, 41, 56) I have suggested four groups of wild cottons based 



on the condition and nature of the woolly coating. The present 

 section of the genus corresponds with the third of these groups of 

 fleeces, and it will thus be seen that we are justified in regarding 

 the peculiarities of the woolly coating of the seed as of specific if 

 not sub-generic value. Since met with in wild cottons they are 

 certainly not acquired characters, assumed in response to man's 

 requirements. Although the variation and adaptation incident to 

 cultivation and to altered environment would doubtless change these 

 peculiarities in certain directions, it may be anticipated that the 

 members of each of the sections adopted by me would move as it 

 were along parallel lines. Assuming that they constitute natural 

 sections, the species may be expected to preserve their relationship 

 to each other tenaciously and to only depart from that association 

 Hybrid- under the influence of hybridisation. Moreover they will be found 

 to cross more freely with each other than with members of other 

 sections. It would therefore seem highly probable that to this 

 circumstance may be due the observation, sometimes recorded, that 

 hybridisation between cottons is impossible, and at other times the 

 very opposite opinion having been advanced namely, that it is 

 impossible to prevent cross-breeding when two or more cottons are 

 grown in proximity. In the one case the hybridisation of remote 

 species members of different groups may have been attempted, 

 in the other the crossing of closely allied species or varieties of one 

 species or at all events members of the same group may have 

 been considered. The hybridisation of the species of two sections 

 would not, however, seem impossible though often difficult, and 

 certain advances or stages may have to be accomplished before the 

 desired final result can be attained. 



The isolation of the cottons into distinctive groups is supported 



