Gossypium thurberi

Common Name: Desert Cotton, Arizona Wild Cotton, Thurberˊs Cotton
Oˊodham Name: Ban Tokiga Audio
Group: Shrubs － Desert, Chaparral

Description

Gossypium thurberi is a native cotton that grows in gravelly and rocky soils at 2500 to 5000 ft elevation. This species is a sparsely branched shrub which forms unusually large leaves in comparison with other desert plants. White flowers produce large, 2cm diameter fruit which burst open to reveal fibrous seed wings that may be woven into cotton.

Classification

Kingdom Plantae － Plants

Subkingdom Tracheobionta － Vascular plants

Superdivision Spermatophyta － Seed plants

Division Magnoliophyta － Flowering plants

Class Magnoliopsida － Dicotyledons

Subclass Dilleniidae

Order Malvales

Family Malvaceae － Mallow family

Genus Gossypium L. － cotton

Species Gossypium thurberi Todaro － Thurberˊs cotton

More Information

USDA Plant Profile and Map