CHAPTER IV 

 THE PRINCIPAL SPECIES OF COTTON 



COTTON belongs to the natural order Malvales. This 

 order of plants includes herbs, shrubs, and trees, nearly 

 all of which bear showy, involucrate flowers with calyx 

 of distinct or partially united sepals. The order Malvales 

 comprises three families of plants, namely, Tillaceae or 

 linden family, Sterculiaceae or chocolate family, and 

 Malvaceae or mallow family. Cotton belongs to the latter 

 family and to the genus or subfamily, Gossypium. 



33. Malvaceae or mallow family. This family in- 

 cludes largely tropical plants, the species diminishing 

 rapidly in number and prevalence as we recede from the 

 equator. According to Watt, they are also more numerous 

 in the northern tropics of the New than of the Old World. 



The mallow family includes, besides cotton, some of 

 the silk cottons, and several well-known bast-fibers, among 

 which is the hemp-leaved mallow of southern Europe. 

 Okra, and a few cultivated flowers, such as hollyhocks, 

 hibiscus, and althea or "rose of Sharon," are also members 

 of this family. From the industrial standpoint the cotton 

 plant is, by far, the most important member of the mallow 

 family. 



One of the chief distinguishing features of the mallow 

 family is that the stamens unite to form a tube around the 

 pistil. Also the anthers are one-celled. 



34. The genus Gossypium. This genus includes all 

 species of both wild and cultivated cottons. The plants 



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