174 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



G-ossypium spp. Cotton. 



Exogens. Malvaceae. Tall herbs and shrubs. 



Common- and native names.— Hopi (moqui), Indian name, Pucii; Algodon (Span.) ; 

 Ychcaxihitvitl (Ync, or ancient Mex.); Favai (Tahiti); Coton (Fr.); Cotone 

 (It.); Baumwolle (Ger.); Pembeh or Poombeh (Pers.); Gain, Kotan, or JO>/» 

 (Arab.); taw/ Saung (Cochin China); Jfoa mein (China): Watta ik or Walla 

 noli (Jap.); Tonfai (Siam); Nurma (Hind.); Deo Kurpas and Deo Kapas, God's 

 cotton (Mysore and Bomb.) ; Nu-wa (Bnrni.) ; Kohung (Mong. ), and many others. 

 Habitat and SPECIES.— The origin of the cotton plant is a question not easily set- 

 tled, as cotton has been grown in many countries from an exceedingly remote period. 

 It is probable that a plant numbering so many species is indigenous in different 

 localities, though Rhind states that it may possibly have come from Persia originally, 

 then crossed into Egypt, thence to Asia Minor and the Indian Archipelago. M. Ber- 

 nard in. curator of the Industrial Museum of Ghent, in his " X" omenclature Uselle de 

 Fibres Textiles/"' gives the origin of the several species named, crediting at least two 



fco North America, CI. 

 harbadense from the 

 West Indies, and (',. 

 hirsutum from Mexico. 

 G. herbaceum he re- 

 gards as originally an 

 East Indian species. 

 So much has been 

 written upon this 

 subject and authori- 

 ties differ so widely 

 that great confusion 

 has resulted To add 

 to the complication, 

 cotton has been cul- 

 tivated in portions of 

 the earth from remote 

 ages, and in many 

 countries for cen- 

 turies — for a period 

 of over 3,000 years in 

 India — for we read 

 that when Egypt was 



in the zenith of her glory the delicate cotton tissues of India were famous, and Egypt 

 at that time had a cotton industry of her own. On our continent the Aztecs of Mex- 

 ico and the Incasof Peru ages and ages ago spun and wove cotton, and the Hopi Indians 

 of Arizona, preserving a tradition and the requirements of a custom that has come 

 down from remote times, will only use in their religious ceremonials strings or cords 

 made from native-grown cotton, twisted by the officiating priests. Regarding the 

 countries where cotton is cultivated, see statements on the distribution of cultiva- 

 tion, page 178. 



In a recent Avork on the cotton plant, Bulletin No. 33, prepared by the Office of 

 Experiment Stations of the United States Department of Agriculture, the history, 

 botany, culture, chemistry, and uses of this plant are treated almost, exhaustively. 

 From the chapter on the botanical consideration of the subject, prepared by Dr. 

 Walter II. Evans, the statements regarding the different species of cotton, which 

 follow, have been condensed: On account of their great variability the species of 

 Go88ypium are difficult of limitation, and various attempts have been made to 

 classify them. Linnaeus described atleasl 3 species, and since that time the num- 

 ber of species and synonyms has increased enormously. Two monographs of the 

 genus have been published by Italian botanists, ih" first by Filippo Parlatore in 



Blossom and boll of the cotton plant. Gossypium. 



