THE COTTON PLANT 



Short-staple 

 American. 



GOSSYPIUM 



ARBOR BUM 



Deo Kapas 



131-40, t. iv., fi. A-C ; Aliotta, Riv. Grit. Gen. Goss, 1903, 66-75 (in 

 part) ; Watt, I.e. 155-63, tt. 24-5. Syrian, Levant, Arabian and some 

 of the Short-staple North American Cottons. 



Habitat Probably indigenous to North Arabia and Asia Minor. Not known 

 to exist as a wild species anywhere. It occurs in the Mediterranean regions 

 (Sicily, Malta, Greece, Crete, Cyprus, Algiers, Turkey), in Syria, Mesopotamia, 

 Armenia, Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, in the North- West Frontier Province 

 of India, and in the northern portions of the cotton area of the United States 

 of America. It may, in fact, be described as a warm-temperate species, and is 

 at least one of the plants that yields, or formerly yielded, the so-called " Short- 

 staple American Cotton " of commerce. There is every reason for believing that 

 it was the species first cultivated by Europeans. It was the bushy, cultivated, 

 annual Ooaaypium or Xylon first mentioned by botanical writers. Moreover (as 

 already fully shown), the field plant of the Levant was the first commercial 

 cotton of Europe, which, at an early date, was carried to the United States 

 and there largely cultivated some time before the discovery of the other special 

 races that ultimately drove it into a position of secondary importance. It was 

 that discovery, in fact, that gave the States their supremacy and caused the 

 area of production to move to the south and west. 



From the practical standpoint it is essential, therefore, that a clear concep- 

 tion be obtained of the plant which in all probability was the species that first 

 attracted the attention of European manufacturers. Dr. Roxburgh one of the 

 most accurate of botanists described and prepared an MS. drawing of an Indian 

 plant which he accepted as being <. iifrbnvemn. Linn., but in that opinion 

 he was in error, for, if any two cultivated species of (Josttyttiitm can be viewed 

 as distinct, <w. nerbaceiun, Roxb., and <'. tn-i-tnn-e.it m. Linn., are so. As under- 

 stood by Roxburgh, the Indian plant embraced Dacca Cotton (<'. nr-yiertmn. 

 Tod.), also the Berar and China Cottons (*'. \ankiny, Meyen). It was apparently 

 with the object of primarily separating the Indian country cottons from the 

 Levant plant that Todaro formed his <. wigMintmm. That species was 

 founded on but one form (Osa. Sp. di Cot., 1863, No. 12, 47), but subsequently 

 Todaro fell into the error of grouping several Indian plants with it. 



Cultivated Forms. The forms of . hei-int<-?nm. Linn., that are deemed of 

 greatest value are (a) those suited to cold countries, and (b) those in the United 

 States that are so much hybridised with <v. hirsntm>i that they are often 

 accepted as grades of that plant. The large-leaved hairy states of this species 

 require a much warmer climate than the sub-glabrous (and therefore more) 

 typical conditions. Some of the recent writers, such as Cook ( U.S. Dept. Agri. 

 Bull., 1906, No. 88, 8), would appear, however, to go to an unnecessary extreme 

 when they affirm, as Cook does, that " the Upland type of cotton was recognised 

 as a distinct species by Linnaeus under the name <'. iiirmitum, but many sub- 

 sequent writers have erroneously confused the Old World species <*. hcrbiu-fmn, 

 which is not cultivated in the United States, though often so reported." It 

 certainly was very largely cultivated prior to 1732, and for many years there- 

 after, as the Upland Cotton, and I believe still survives, though mostly in a state 

 of hybridisation with <-'. /n>wHfni. 



Indian Error. 



Cultivated 

 Stocks. 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 5-7. 

 Tree 

 Cotton : 

 Nurma. 



India and 

 Africa. 



i 



G. arfooreum, Linn., Sp. PL, 1753, ii., 693 (excl. syn. Rheede) ; 

 Todaro, Relaz. Cult, dei Cot., 1877, 176-80, t. IA; Aliotta, Riv. Grit. 

 Gen. Goss., 1903, 56-65 (in part) ; Watt, I.e. 81-91, tt. 7, 8. Tree Cotton 

 of India and Africa, deo Jcapds, nurma, manua, bajwara, red navsari, 

 ram kapas, etc. 



Habitat- A small tree or large shrub which has often been claimed as originally 

 an African species, but few botanists have discovered it anywhere in what could 

 be regarded as an indigenous habitat. It has been reported as wild in Upper 

 Guinea, Abyssinia, and Upper Egypt. [Cf. De Candolle, Orig. Cult. Plants, 405.] 

 Certainly so far as botanical publications are concerned it was figured and 

 described by Alpinus as an Egyptian plant a hundred years before Plukenet 

 wrote of it, " Oosaypium herbaceum maderaapatenae.'" It is said to be met with 

 in gardens (especially near temples) in Egypt, Africa, Arabia, India, but though 

 much less abundant has also been found in China, Japan, Java and the 

 Malaya. Lamarck (quoting Sonnerat, Hiat. Voy., x., 460), speaks of it as growing 

 plentifully in the plains of Macassar. So far as presently known, the arboreous 



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