Gossypium arboreum L.

Tree cotton (en), Cotonnier (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Malvales > Malvaceae > Gossypium

Characteristics

Subshrubs or shrubs, perennial, 2-3 m tall. Young branchlets villous. Stipules filiform, caducous; petiole 2-4 cm, puberulent and villous; leaf blade 3-5-lobed, 4-8 cm in diam., lobes oblong-lanceolate, oblong, ovate, or obovate, ca. 1/2 as long as leaf blade, abaxially stellate puberulent, villous along veins, adaxially stellate pilose. Flowers solitary, axillary. Pedicel 1.5-2.5 cm, villous. Epicalyx lobes 3, connate for basal 1/3, ovate-cordate or triangular, ca. 2.5 cm, stellate villous on veins, 3-or 4-toothed, teeth less than 3 × as long as wide. Calyx shallowly cup-shaped, nearly truncate. Corolla yellowish, often dark purple in center, campanulate; petals 3-5 cm. Staminal column 1.5-2 cm; filaments uniform in length. Capsule 3(or 4 or 5)-loculed, cone-shaped, usually pendulous, ca. 3 cm, glabrous, with numerous oily and glandular minute spots, apex tapering, beaked. Seeds 5-8 per cell, free, ovoid, 5-8 mm in diam., with white wool and moderately persistent short fuzz. Fl. Jun-Sep.
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A shrub. It keeps growing from year to year. It grows to 3 m high. The leaf stalk is 2-4 cm long. The leaves have 5 or 7 lobes and spread out like fingers on a hand. They are shiny above. They are parted for half the length of the leaf. The leaf blade is 4-8 cm across. The flowers occur singly in the axils of leaves. The flowers are yellow or purple. The centre is red. The fruit is a capsule. It is oblong and hangs down. It is 3 cm across. The fruit capsule has 3 valves. There are 5-8 seeds in each cell. They are 5-8 mm across.
Perennial shrubs, or annual subshrubs
Flowers red or purple, or yellow.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 0.04 - 0.08
Mature height (meter) 2.5 - 3.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

A tropical plant. It is native to tropical and subtropical Asia. In Nepal it grows up to 1500 m altitude. It is widely cultivated in river basins in China. It is damaged by drought and frost. It suits hardiness zones 10-12. In Yunnan.
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Not known in a truly wild location.
Light 7-9
Soil humidity 4-6
Soil texture 1-6
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

Oil from the seeds is edible. The leaves are also eaten.
Uses animal food environmental use fiber fodder food gene source invertebrate food material medicinal oil poison
Edible leaves seeds
Therapeutic use Central nervous system depressants (aerial part), Antiviral agents (bark), Galactogogues (bark), Menstruation-inducing agents (bark), Asthma (flower), Conjunctivitis (flower), Scorpion stings (flower), Snake bites (flower), Ear diseases (fruit), Mouth diseases (fruit), Antifungal agents (leaf), Antirheumatic agents (leaf), Conjunctivitis (leaf), Corneal diseases (leaf), Eye diseases (leaf), Gastrointestinal agents (leaf), Antipyretics (root), Fever (root), Galactogogues (root), Jaundice (root), Menstruation-inducing agents (root), Pregnancy complications (root), Antifungal agents (seed), Aphrodisiacs (seed), Common cold (seed), Cystitis (seed), Demulcents (seed), Expectorants (seed), Gonorrhea (seed), Hemagglutination (seed), Laxatives (seed), Ache(Ear) (unspecified), Headache (unspecified), Bite(Snake) (unspecified), Brain (unspecified), Bruise (unspecified), Convulsion (unspecified), Demulcent (unspecified), Dysentery (unspecified), Expectorant (unspecified), Fibroma(Uterus) (unspecified), Lactagogue (unspecified), Laxative (unspecified), Madness (unspecified), Nervine (unspecified), Sore (unspecified), Tumor (unspecified), Vasoconstrictor (unspecified), Emmenagogue (unspecified), Hemostat (unspecified), Abortifacient (unspecified), Emollient (unspecified), Labor (unspecified), Malaria (unspecified), Pharyngitis (unspecified), Scorpion (unspecified), Swelling (unspecified), Amenorrhea (unspecified), Anticonvulsants (unspecified), Anti-inflammatory agents (unspecified), Antipruritics (unspecified), Antipyretics (unspecified), Conjunctivitis (unspecified), Diuretics (unspecified), Dysmenorrhea (unspecified), Earache (unspecified), Erysipelas (unspecified), Fever (unspecified), Inflammation (unspecified), Labor pain (unspecified), Leprosy (unspecified), Menstruation-inducing agents (unspecified), Mental disorders (unspecified), Pregnancy complications (unspecified), Skin diseases (unspecified), Ulcer (unspecified), Urination disorders (unspecified), Wound healing (unspecified), Wounds and injuries (unspecified), Central nervous system diseases (whole plant excluding root)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seed.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) 26 - 36
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Gossypium arboreum leaf picture by Muhammad Ahmad Bakari (cc-by-sa)
Gossypium arboreum leaf picture by Ankit Pathak (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Gossypium arboreum flower picture by Muhammad Ahmad Bakari (cc-by-sa)
Gossypium arboreum flower picture by Nilmani Nilmani Goswami (cc-by-sa)
Gossypium arboreum flower picture by Alagu Alagu Raj KP (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Gossypium arboreum world distribution map, present in Angola, Benin, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Central African Republic, China, Cuba, Egypt, Fiji, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, India, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Myanmar, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Korea (Democratic People's Republic of), Saudi Arabia, Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Togo, Thailand, Taiwan, Province of China, United States of America, Viet Nam, and South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:559664-1
WFO ID wfo-0000707825
COL ID 6L3RF
BDTFX ID 126607
INPN ID 629781
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Gossypium albiflorum Gossypium bani Gossypium cernuum Gossypium comesii Gossypium gracile Gossypium nanking Gossypium obtusifolium Gossypium perennans Gossypium wightianum Hibiscus albiflorus Gossypium rubicundum Gossypium rubrum Gossypium anomalum Gossypium asiaticum Gossypium glabratum Gossypium indicum Gossypium intermedium Gossypium neglectum Gossypium puniceum Gossypium roxburghii Gossypium royleanum Gossypium sanguineum Gossypium soudanense Gossypium vaupelii Gossypium wattianum Hibiscus cernuus Hibiscus nangking Gossypium obtusifolium Gossypium figarei Gossypium macranthum Gossypium arboreum var. cernuum Gossypium arboreum var. wightianum Gossypium nanking var. bani Gossypium obtusifolium var. wightiana Gossypium arboreum var. obtusifolium Xylon indicum Gossypium roseum Gossypium arboreum f. vaupellii Gossypium arboreum var. arboreum Gossypium arboreum var. nangking Gossypium arboreum var. paradoxum Gossypium herbaceum var. obtusifolium Gossypium arboreum