COTTON 191 



MALLOW FAMILY ( MALVACEAE ) 



The plants of this family are either herbs or shrubs. The 

 flowers have five sepals united at the base, five petals, many 

 stamens and a single- one-chambered ovary with many pistils. 

 The mature fruit is a capsule. 



Cotton. In this family we find the cotton plants (Gos- 

 sypium herbaceum L., G. barbadense L., G. arboreum L.) which 

 are among the most valuable of the fibre or lint plants. The 

 fibre is produced on the seeds within the capsule. The cotton 

 plant was used long before Christ. It probably originated in 

 India and spread throughout the tropical and subtropical parts 

 of the world, although the early Spanish explorers claim to have 

 found it growing in Mexico and Central America and that the 

 natives were using it for making clothing. It is one of the most 

 important crops of the southern states and is used for many 

 purposes other than that of making clothing, such as gun-cotton 

 and collodion. The oil is extracted from the seeds and used for 

 culinary purposes and as a substitute for olive oil and the re- 

 maining solid part of the seed is used for stock feed. Cotton- 

 , seed meal is also used extensively as a fertilizer for the soil. 



Accepting the idea that cotton is a native of both the old 

 and the new world, it is evident that G. herbaceum is the old 

 world form, G. arboreum (tree cotton) the African form and 

 G. barbadense the American type. Many varieties of types are 

 now recognized ; one of the most popular of our American types 

 is the " sea island " or " long staple cotton " which is a variety 

 of G. barbadense. 



The fruit of the okra or gumbo (Hibiscus esculentus L.) 

 (Fig. 119) is extensively used in soups, stews and catsups, espe- 

 cially in the southern part of the United, States. Its origin is 

 unknown, but it probably originated in Africa or the American 

 tropics. 



