868 



COTTON 



COTYLEDON 



COTTON belongs to the genus Gossypium (name 

 used by Pliny), of the Malvaceae. The species are now 

 much confused, but it is generally agreed that the sea 

 island cotton is of the species G. barbadense, Linn. The 

 upland cotton is probably derived chiefly or wholly 

 from G. hirsutum, Linn. The former is native in the 

 West Indies. The nativity of the latter is in dispute, 

 but it is probably Asian. The cotton flower is mallow- 

 like, with a subtending involucre of three large heart- 

 shaped bracts. The carpels or cells of the pod are 

 three to five. These carpels break open, and the cotton 

 covering of the seeds makes a globular mass, the 

 cotton boll (Fig. 1082). Cotton is not a horticultural 



1082. A cotton boll. 



crop, and is therefore not considered in this work. 

 The reader will find "The Cotton Plant" (published by 

 the Dept. of Agric., Bull. 33), a useful monograph. 

 Consult Cyclo. Amer. Agric., Vol. II, p. 247. 



COTTONWOOD: species of Populus. 



COTULA (Greek, small cup, the bases of the clasp- 

 ing leaves forming a hollow or basin). Compdsitse. 

 Small diffuse or much-branched strong-smelling annual 

 or perennial yellow-flowered herbs, a few of the peren- 

 nials sometimes used as carpeters in rock-gardens. 



Leaves alternate, toothed, lobed or pinnatisect: 

 heads pedunculate, hemispherical or bell-shaped, 

 many-fld. and discoid; outer or marginal florets nearly 

 or quite apetalous, usually pistillate and fertile; disk- 

 florets 4-toothed, fertile or male; torus naked; pappus 

 not evident: achene glabrous, compressed. About 50 or 

 60 species, largely in the southern hemisphere. 



dioica, Hook. f. (Leptinella dimca, Hook. f.). Sts. 

 glabrous or slightly hairy, 1 ft. or less long, creeping: 

 Ivs. solitary or tufted, not thick or stiff, stalked, 2 in. 

 or less long, linear-obovate to spatulate, obtuse, ser- 

 rate to pinnatifid or even pinnate: heads on axillary 

 naked peduncles that are longer or shorter than the 

 Ivs., unisexual, the males J^in. or less diam., and the 

 females a little larger: achene obovoid, curved. New 

 Zeal. Very variable. A compact dwarf carpeter. 



Muelleri, Kirk. (C. potentilliana, Hort.? Leptinella 

 potentillina, Muell.). Sts. long and rather stout, creep- 

 ing and rooting, the branches ascending and somewhat 

 yillous towards the tips: Ivs. 2-5 in. long, stalk and all, 

 linear-obovate, deeply pinnatifid, glandular-dotted: 

 heads on peduncles that usually are shorter than the 

 Ivs., bisexual, about j^in. diam.: achene club-shaped 

 and 4-angled. New Zeal. 



C. landta, Hook. f. (Leptinella lanata, Hook. f.). Stout and woolly: 

 Ivs. rather fleshy, pinnate or pinnatifid: florets glandular. New 

 Zeal. C. lobcita, Linn.=Lidbeckia. C. plumdsa, Hook. f. (Lep- 

 tinella plumosa, Hook. f.). Stout, soft-woolly: Ivs. 3-4 times pin- 

 natisect: florets not glandular. New Zeal. C. Squdlida, Hook. f. 

 (Leptinella squalida, Hook f.). Allied to C. dioica, with Ivs. 

 deeply pinnatifid and segms. incised. New Zeal. T tr r> 



Jj. 1. D. 



COTYLEDON (a name used by Pliny, meaning 

 a cavity, having reference to the concaved or cup-like 

 leaves of some kinds) . Crassulaccse. Succulent herbs or 

 shrubs, rarely annual, grown mostly for their oddity, 

 but some of them making good winter bloomers in pots 

 and some used for summer bedding because of the stiff 

 thick foliage; some are half-hardy North. 



Habit very various, rosulate or erect, sometimes of a 

 scandent tendency: branches and Ivs. thick and fleshy: 

 Ivs. opposite or alternate, petiolate or sessile: calyx 

 5-parted, as long as or shorter than the corolla-tube; 

 corolla tubular, cylindrical or urn-shaped, sometimes 

 5-angled, the parts or petals 5, erect or spreading, 

 connate to the middle, longer than the usually 10 

 stamens; ovary of 5 free carpels, each with a narrow 

 scale at base; fls. erect or pendent, sometimes showy, in 

 terminal racemes or cymes. Differs from Sedum in the 

 connate petals. Species about 100, in Calif, to Texas, 

 and Mex., Afr., Asia and Eu. See I.H. 10:76 for an 

 account of many of the species. Some of the species 

 make dense rosettes of stiff Ivs. on the ground and send 

 up a small bracted scape; they remind one of the house- 

 leek (Sempervivum tectorum and related species). 



As above defined, Cotyledon comprises the broad 

 group habitually known under that name. Recently, 

 however, Britton and Rose have revised the group, 

 excluding Cotyledon from America, reinstating Eche- 

 veria and Pachyphytum for some of the American 

 species and making new genera for others, as Dudleya, 

 Oliveranthus, Urbinia, Stylophyllum. For the conve- 

 nience of the gardener, the cult, species are here brought 

 together under Cotyledon, and they are also listed at 

 other places under their new generic names. 



Cotyledons are little known in this country except 

 among fanciers and for carpet-bedding. Culturally, there 

 are two groups, the greenhouse kinds and the bedding 

 kinds. The greenhouse kinds are well represented by 

 C. gibbiflora. It is attractive both in foliage and flower. 

 It may be expected to begin bloom in January or 

 February. Its period of bloom is short, after which it 

 may be propagated. The top of the main shoot (or of 

 strong side shoots) may be cut off with 2 or 3 inches 

 of stem, and stood in pots so that the cut end will rest 

 on moss in the bottom and the leaves on the rim of the 

 pot, using no earth; fine roots will soon form and the 

 young plant may then be repotted into dryish soil. 

 The old stems of this and similar tall kinds may be 

 placed rather close together in shallow boxes, when it is 

 desired to propagate them, and kept in a warm dry 

 place, where they will form small growths along the 

 stems; these, when large enough, may be put into boxes 

 of dry sand, and potted in thumb- or 3-inch pots when 

 they have made a sufficient quantity of roots. This 

 species should be kept in a warmhouse in winter, where 

 it is rather dry and not exposed to drip. C. fulgens is 

 a good greenhouse species, producing showy waxy 

 red flowers in winter; also C. coccinea. For this purpose 

 the large plants should be lifted from the beds and care- 

 fully potted, as they make a much finer growth in the 

 open ground than when grown in pots. When it is 

 desired to increase the low-growing carpet-bedding 

 kinds on a larger scale, the plants should be lifted before 

 the ground gets too wet and cold. They may either be 

 boxed in dry soil and kept in a cool dry house, or placed 

 thickly together in a frame, taking care that no drip is 

 allowed on the plants, and giving no water. The most 

 convenient time for propagation by leaves is during the 

 months of November and December, when the fall 

 work of rooting soft-wooded plants is over. Leaves 

 rooted at this time will make plants large enough for 

 planting out the following season. They will take from 

 three to four weeks to root, according to the kind. The 

 leaves must be taken from the plant as follows: Grasp 

 each leaf between the thumb and forefinger, give a 

 gentle twist first to one side then to the other until the 

 leaf comes off, taking care that the dormant bud in the 



