5020.000 Gossypium L.

Description of the genus

Shrubs or herbs, dotted with black oil-glands. Leaves palmately lobed. Flowers yellow, sometimes purplish. Epicalyx of 3 leaf-like and persistent bracts, deeply incised (in ours). Calyx cup-shaped, truncate. Style not branched, clavate. Ovary 3-5-locular. Fruit a loculicidally-dehiscent capsule. Seeds usually with floss (or lint).

Worldwide: 39 species from warm temperate to tropical regions

Zimbabwe: 3 taxa.

Insects associated with this genus:

Cadarena Pudoraria Larval foodplant

Coeliades pisistratus (Two-pip policeman) Larval foodplant

Phaiogramma stibolepida Larval foodplant

Links to taxa: View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

Species	FZ divisions	Content
barbadense L. var. brasiliense (Macfad.) J.B. Hutch.	C
herbaceum L. subsp. africanum (Watt) Vollesen var. africanum (Watt) Hutch & Ghose	W,E,S	Description, Image
hirsutum L.	N,C	Description, Image

Other sources of information about Gossypium:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Gossypium
Flora of Caprivi: Gossypium
Flora of Mozambique: Gossypium
Flora of Mozambique: cultivated Gossypium
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Gossypium

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Gossypium
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Gossypium
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Gossypium
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Gossypium
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Gossypium
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Gossypium
JSTOR Plant Science: Gossypium
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Gossypium
Plants of the World Online: Gossypium
Tropicos: Gossypium
Wikipedia: Gossypium