The Correct Name for the Hawaiian Gossypium 
Robert L. Wilbur 1 
For ALMOST A century the endemic Hawaiian 
Gossypium has been known as G. tomentosum. 
This species has received much attention es- 
pecially in recent years since it has been thought 
by some to form together with the two Ameri- 
can cultivated cottons, G. hirsutum L. and G. 
barbadense L., 2 a small section of closely related 
species with a similar distinctive origin. The 
section is unique within the genus in that its 
three related species, as interpreted by Hutchin- 
son, Silow, and Stephens ( 1947 ) , are allotetra- 
ploids reputedly having derived one genome 
from the diploid American complex and another 
from the group to which the Asiatic and African 
cultivated cottons belong. Naturally species with 
apparently as bizarre an origin as these three 
have been frequently discussed in the cytological, 
genetical, and phytogeographical literature. As 
a result the name G. tomentosum has become 
very well known indeed for the Hawaiian plant. 
Unfortunately for the sake of stability, this 
application of the name does not appear to 
withstand scrutiny. 
Although the native Hawaiian Gossypium 
was collected by the naturalists on both the 
expeditions of Cook, who discovered the Islands 
in 1778, and of Vancouver, who visited in 1792 
and 1793, it was apparently first considered as 
a distinct and undescribed species by Nuttall 
1 Department of Botany, Duke University, Durham, 
North Carolina. Grateful acknowledgment is made to 
the National Science Foundation for a grant of re- 
search funds to Duke University (NSF-Grant 18799) 
which has made the present study possible. I should 
also like to thank Dr. F. R. Fosberg for his most help- 
ful advice, but this of course in no way implies that 
he is necessarily in agreement with the conclusion 
reached in this paper. Manuscript received May 7, 
1962. 
2 This name is used in its traditional sense and no 
attempt is made here to evaluate the conclusion by 
Prokhanov (1959) that G. barbadense is merely a 
broad-leaved variety of G. arboreum L. and hence that 
the proper name for the species which includes the 
sea island cotton is G. peruvianum Cav. 
who wintered in Hawaii from January-March 
1835 and perhaps again the following winter. 
However, he failed to publish the results of 
his study. Seemann encountered Nuttall’s Ha- 
waiian collections in the British Museum while 
preparing his account of the genus as it oc- 
curred in Fiji. He concluded that the Hawaiian 
specimens were conspecific with plants repre- 
senting what he presumed to be an undescribed 
cotton introduced into Fiji. He adopted Nuttall’s 
unpublished herbarium name, provided a de- 
scription, and cited specimens of his own and, 
in addition, of Pritchard and of Smythe from 
Fiji and also collections of Nelson, Menzies, 
Nuttall, and Diell from the Hawaiian Islands. 
Seemann’s instructions from the British Co- 
lonial Office directed him to pay particular at- 
tention to Fiji as a possibly important cotton 
producing area. These islands had been pro- 
visionally ceded to Great Britain in 1859 and 
a small party including Seemann was sent to 
evaluate the state of this Melanesian kingdom 
before formally accepting its responsibility. See- 
mann’s investigation during his 8 months 
residence resulted in his enthusiastic conviction 
that "the Fijis seem as if made” for the cultiva- 
tion of cotton. It is therefore quite certain that 
Seemann paid particular attention to the genus 
as represented in Fiji. Four species were recog- 
nized, all of which were thought by him to be 
introduced. Because of the rarity of Seemann’s 
"Flora Vitiensis,” it seems desirable to include 
here both the description and the comments 
made by him concerning the species in question. 
4. G. tomentosum, Nutt, mss.; fruticosum; ramulis 
foliis bracteisque cano-tomentosis foliis 3—5 lobis, 
lobis ovatis acuminatis v. acutis integerrimis obscure 
v. distincte punctatis; stipulis cordatis v. ovatis acumi- 
natis; pedunculis 1— 2-floris; bracteis ovato-oblongis, 
basi cordatis, apice laciniatis, laciniis ovato-lanceolatis 
integerrimis; calyce subtruncato distincte nigro-punc- 
tato; petalis (flavis) obovatis, extus in parte exteriori 
tomentosis, in parte inclusa latiore tenuiore glabris; 
capsulis 3-valvis, valvis apiculatis; seminibus liberis 
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