COTTON 



name, Cheeses, refers to the disk-like form of the seed receptacle 

 which, while green, is eaten by children. 



Tree Mallow, Malva sylvisiris, is a common biennial with an 

 erect branching stem and bushy habit; naturalized from Europe. 

 The leaves are five to seven lobed and the flowers pale crimson- 

 pink, each petal with about four veins of deeper color. The 

 flowers are borne in small clusters at the leaf angles. Once culti- 

 vated, it is now found chiefly on roadsides and in waste places. 



COTTON 



Gossypium herbaceum. 



It may be a matter of interest to note the botanical affiliations 

 of this most valuable economic plant. Cotton is an annual mal- 

 low, bearing a blossom pale-yellow with a dark eye. Its fruit is a 

 capsule containing seeds with a spongy testa covered with woolly 

 hairs called cotton. 



The Cotton plant of cultivation is of doubtful origin, but the 

 ancient species of Asiatic plantations and the one now cultivated 

 in Europe and the United States is referred to Gossypium herbaceum, 

 which is only a way of saying that it is an herbaceous cotton. 

 The genus is not well understood and authors differ as to 

 the number of wild Cottons in existence, but there are certainly 

 several. 



Gossypium arhoreum is a Tree Cotton believed to be native to 

 Egypt, concerning which Pliny makes the following interesting 

 statement : 



"The upper part of Egypt toward Arabia produces a shrub 

 which some call gossipion and others xylon, whence the name 

 xylina given to the threads obtained from it. It is low growing 

 and bears a fruit like the bearded nut, and from the interior of 

 this is taken a wool for weaving. None is comparable to this in 

 softness and whiteness." He adds, "The cloth made from it is 

 used by preference for the dress of the Egyptian priests." 



It is to be expected, in view of the increasing scientific interest 



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