246 



WILD AND CULTIVATED CO1TONS 



Wild 

 species. 



African 

 form. 



Its in- 

 fluence. 



Readily 



separable 



wool. 



Centres 

 of naked- 

 seeded 

 cottons. 



knowledge is assorted in sequence of date one of the most satisfactory 

 hints as to the origin of the cultivated forms is obtained, and a useful 

 key afforded regarding possible future developments. 



Embraced under the naked-seeded section there may be said to 

 be three or four well marked forms (species) each with its associated 

 group of cultivated agricultural and commercial grades. Only one 

 has, however, been found under conditions such as to justify belief 

 that it is a well marked wild species, viz. G. taitense, Parl. 



The expression ' naked-seeded,' though convenient and useful, 

 must never, however, be accepted rigidly. Nearly all the members 

 of that assemblage possess a slight tuft of fuzz around the apex 

 (beak) of the seed, some even have a tuft at both extremities. There 

 is perhaps only one absolutely naked-seeded cotton, so far as our 

 present knowledge goes, and that is an African wild species, viz. 

 G. Kirkii, which, while allied to the group of cottons under con- 

 sideration (more especially to G. brasiliense), possesses sufficient 

 independent characteristics to warrant its being placed in a section 

 by itself the prototype possibly of others to be discovered or even 

 evolved in the future. The exact bearing of G. Kirkii (a species 

 never recorded as met with under cultivation, and which possesses 

 what may be called absolutely naked seeds) on the problem of 

 existing and future commercial cottons would seem an issue of 

 superlative importance. 



The ease with which the silky wool of the naked-seeded cottons 

 separates from the seed is an even more certain characteristic than 

 the absence of fuzz (p. 43). It would seem, moreover, that under 

 hybridisation the peculiarity of a naked seed is instantly destroyed, 

 and that the appearance of completely fuzzy seeds in the progeny 

 of a so-called ' naked-seeded ' stock, may denote a recessive charac- 

 teristic from a fuzzy-seeded ancestor. Be that as it may, there 

 remains the curiously interesting fact that from three great centres 

 there would appear to have emanated the naked-seeded-readily- 

 separable-wool condition, centres that approximately correspond 

 with the indigenous habitats of actual or presumed wild forms. In 

 the Polynesian Islands, 1, G. taitense is met with both wild and 

 cultivated ; 2, on the east side of the Continent of Africa G. Kirkii 

 occurs; and 3, in South America G. brasiliense and possibly also 

 G. vitifolium originated. But let it be added these habitats are 

 approximately situated between 15 N. and 20 S. latitude. Both 

 north and south of the equator is placed the region of G. brasiliense 



