GOSSYPIUM COTTON. 



107 



GOSSYPIUM. COTTON. 



Gossypium herbaceum Linne. Cotton Plant. 



Description. Calyx tubular-campanulate, obscurely 5-toothed, much 

 shorter than the epicalyx of 3 large, cordate, deeply incised and toothed 

 leaves. Corolla : petals large, convolute in the bud, spreading when ex- 

 panded, irregularly obovate-truncate, wedged-shaped at the base, yellow, 

 with a purple spot changing to reddish-brown. Stamens numerous, uni- 

 ted and forming a long tube, connected at the base with the claws of the 

 petals. Ovary conical, 3- to 5-celled, many-ovuled. Style simple, longer 

 than the stamens stigma clavate, slightly 3- to 5-lobed. Fruit a 3- to 5- 



Fio. 114. Gossypium herbaceum. Flower and fruit. 



celled capsule, opening at maturity through the middle of the cells and 

 exposing numerous seeds covered with the white filaments so well known 

 as cotton. 



A stout herbaceous plant, with an erect, branching, leafy stem, about 5 

 feet high, naturally perennial but cultivated as an annual. Leaves large, 

 3 to 6 inches long, 3- to 5-lobed, with a single gland below, strongly veined, 

 the lobes acuminate and mucronate ; petioles about as long as the blade, 

 stiff and angular. Lower leaves often 2- or 3-lobed. Flowers large, 3 

 inches broad, alternate, opposite the leaves ; pedicels similar to the 

 petioles but shorter. 



Habitat. The cotton plant has been cultivated for so great a length of 

 time that its natural habitat is uncertain. It flourishes within the limits 

 of 36 north and south of the equator. Though scarcely naturalized, the 

 extent to which it is cultivated in the Southern States entitles it to a place 

 among North American plants. 



Part Used. The bark of the root : Gossypii raclicis cortex cotton- 

 root bark. Gossypium cotton United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Constituents. Of cotton it is only necessary to state that the article 



