520 BOTANY OF CROP PLANTS 



that "it is highly probable the modern stock is a hybrid." The Sea Island 

 cottons proper which have been grown with the greatest success on the islands 

 oflE the coast of Carolina and Georgia are referred to G. barbadense var. 

 marilima. G. brasiliense is indigenous to South America. It is cultivated 

 extensively and is known as " Chain, Kidney, Stone, Brazilian, Guiana, Esse- 

 quibo, Berbiche, Bahia, Pernambuco, and Coton-pierre cottons." This group 

 is no longer of great commercial importance. 



Section V. Naked-seeded Cotton with Bracteoles quite Free and Floral Glands 

 Absent. — Only one species, G. hirkii, belongs to this. It is from East and 

 Central Africa, and is not cultivated. The lint is easily removed from the 

 seed. 



Wild Cottons. — Wild cottons all have a red-colored, hairy 

 coating on the testa. As is seen above, there may be fuzz 

 only, or both fuzz and lint, or lint alone. Cultivated cottons 

 have a long white lint, in both fuzzy-seeded and naked-seeded 

 forms. Sea Island cottons have the least fuzz of all culti- 

 vated forms. White lint may be regarded as brought about 

 by cultivation. The appearance of rust-colored fuzz or 

 lint may be regarded as a tendency to revert to the ancestral 

 type. 



The reddish tint of wild cottons is due to an aggregation of 

 colored particles in the central core of the fiber. 



American Cottons. — American authorities place the cot- 

 tons of the United States into two species: G. hirsutum, 

 American Upland cotton, and G. barbadense, Sea Island, 

 cotton. It has been noted above, however, that Watt claims 

 that our Upland cottons are hybrids between G. hirsutum 

 and G. mexicanum. Ninety-nine per cent, of the cotton 

 crop in the United States is Upland. 



The most important distinction between these two species 

 is in staple length. The fibers of Upland cotton are from i 

 to 2 centimeters long, those of Sea Island 2.5 to 4 centimeters 

 long. The yield of the former is greater but the quality not 

 so fine. The flowers are white, turning red on the second day 

 of blooming in Upland cotton, but yellow with a purple-red 



