214 



WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



Descrip- 

 tion. 



South 

 America 

 and 

 Egypt. 



(non Linn.), Sp. del Cot. 1886, p. 55; Imbabura Cotton, Spruce, 

 Cult. Cot. N. Peru, 1864, pp. 67-8; G. BARBADENSE, Oliver (in part), 

 Fl. Trop. Af., 1868, i. f 210 : (? G. hirsutum, Cook, Weevil-Besisting 

 Adapt, of the Cotton Plant, U.S. Dept. Agri. Plant. Indust. Butt, 

 n. 88, 1906, p. 8). 



South American, Peruvian (Imbabura) or Andes cottons ; it would, 

 moreover, appear probable that this, and not G. brasiliense, is the 

 true Pernambuco cotton. Many of the Egyptian cottons are races 

 or hybrids of this species, such as the Ashmouni, Hit Afifi, Zafiri 

 and Abassi ; it seems, however, probable that the Ashmouni of some 

 writers is G. microcarpum. Certain African specimens examined 

 by me show, on the attached labels, local names such as Otvu, 

 Abbeokuta ; Ukoko, Congo ; Bazazulu, Zambesi. 



A bushy perennial with twigs very long and flexuose, strongly 

 angled, striated, ash- coloured with age, stems variegated through 

 abundance of gland dots ; leaves often tomentose below, half or 

 three quarters segmented into oblong mucronate lobes ; flowers often 

 large, calyx loose, obscurely toothed (f. 1) ; seeds large, free, with a 

 distinct (sometimes imperfect) green, grey or rust-coloured fuzz (f. 4) 

 and copious, often silky, wool (f. 5). (See Plates Nos. 37 & 38.) 



Leaves usually densely tomentose below, (when old only pilose) especi- 

 ally on the veins, large, thick, coarse, ovate cordate, entire on the lower parts 

 of the bush, or (f. 1) segmented into five near the middle (f. 2) and three 

 lobes on the top of the shoots, the lobes broad oblong, the three chief nerves (or 

 middle nerve only) with a gland on the under surface ; stipules very large, 

 broad oblong ; petiole about two inches long, with tufts of pubescence growing 

 on the prominent granular dots. Inflorescence elongated leaf shoots with 

 generally solitary extra axillary flowers ; bracteoles with six distinct glands, 

 three inside and three outside, large cordate auriculate, free from each 

 other, adherent to the calyx tube, with numerous raised parallel nerves, 

 incised, the central tooth very prominent and larger than the others ; corolla 

 often almost tomentose, frequently nearly half as long again as the brac- 

 teoles, sulphur-yellow with purple claws drying in the herb into a lemon- 

 green colour ; calyx loose, obscurely toothed or angled ; fruit ovate oblong, 

 suddenly acuminate, three valved (f. 3) scarcely protruding beyond the 

 accrescent bracteoles ; seeds large, free from each other and with a distinct 

 (sometimes only imperfect) grey, rufous or green fuzz below the copious 

 harsh wool. (Cavanilles describes the seeds as ' black,' and says nothing 

 about a fuzz, and his drawing presumably shows them naked.) 



Habitat. Central and South America (possibly originally indi- 

 genous to the Equatorial Andes) but now met with under cultivation 

 in most cotton-growing countries ; is especially abundant in Africa, 

 and is apparently the original stock of the ashmouni, abassi and 



