South American Cotton
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Malvales Family: Malvaceae Genus: Gossypium Species: G. barbadense
Binomial name
Gossypium barbadense

American Pima cotton (Gossypium barbadense), also known as Extra Long Staple, South American, Creole, Sea Island cotton, Egyptian, Algodon pais, and West Indische katoen, is a species of cotton plant which is widely cultivated. It is a tropical perennial plant that produces yellow flowers and has black seeds. It grows as a small, bushy tree and yields cotton with unusually long, silky fibers. It was once prevalent in South America along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Wild populations of this plant are now only known to be found in Ecuador. In order to grow, it requires full sun and high humidity and rainfall. G. barbadense is also very sensitive to frost. Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... Divisions Green algae Chlorophyta Charophyta Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta—liverworts Anthocerotophyta—hornworts Bryophyta—mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Rhyniophyta—rhyniophytes †Zosterophyllophyta—zosterophylls Lycopodiophyta—clubmosses †Trimerophytophyta—trimerophytes Pteridophyta—ferns and horsetails Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta—seed ferns Pinophyta—conifers Cycadophyta—cycads Ginkgophyta—ginkgo Gnetophyta—gnetae Magnoliophyta—flowering plants... It has been suggested that Angiospermae, and Anthophyta be merged into this article or section. ... Magnoliopsida is the botanical name for a class: this name is formed by replacing the termination -aceae in the name Magnoliaceae by the termination -opsida (Art 16 of the ICBN). ... Families Malvaceae (mallows,...) Dipterocarpaceae Sarcolaenaceae Cistaceae Muntingiaceae Bixaceae Diegodendraceae Cochlospermaceae Sphaerosepalaceae Thymelaeaceae Neuradaceae The Malvales are an order of flowering plants, mostly comprised of shrubs and trees. ... Subfamilies Bombacoideae Brownlowioideae Byttnerioideae Dombeyoideae Grewioideae Helicteroideae Malvoideae Sterculioideae Tilioideae Malvaceae is family of flowering plants containing Malva, the mallow genus, and its relatives. ... Species See text The cotton plant is a tropical and subtropical shrub of the Genus Gossypium (Family Malvaceae). ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Species See text The cotton plant (Gossypium) is a genus of about 40 species of shrubs in the family Malvaceae, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old World and the New World. ... Red Valerian, a perennial plant. ... Cotton ready for harvest. ...

The first clear sign of domestication of this cotton species comes from a site on the Peruvian coast where cotton bolls dating to 2500 BC were found. By 1000 BC Peruvian cotton bolls were no different to modern cultivars of G. barbadense. Cotton growing became widespread in South America and spread to the West Indies where Christopher Columbus came across it. Cotton became a commercial slave plantation crop in the West Indies so that by the 1650’s Barbados had become the first British West Indian colony to export cotton. In about 1670, planting of G. barbadense began in the British North American colonies when cotton planters were brought over from Barbados. It was however soon surpassed in commercial production by another native American species, Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) which today represents about 95% of U.S production. Christopher Columbus (1451 – May 20, 1506) was a navigator and maritime explorer credited as the discoverer of the Americas. ... 1670 was a common year beginning on a Saturday in countries using the Julian calendar and a Wednesday in countries using the Gregorian calendar. ...

This plant has antifungal properties and contains the chemical gossypol, making it insect resistant. It is also sometimes used as an anti-fertility drug. In Suriname’s traditional medicine, the leaves of G. barbadense are used to treat hypertension and delayed/irregular menstruation. Gossypol is a polyphenol C30H30O8 derived from the cottonseed plant (genus Gossypium, family Malvaceae) used as a male oral contraceptive in China. ...

References

• Sauer, J.D. 1993. Historical geography of crop plants - a select roster. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.

External links

• Cotton Botany at Cotton Inc.