Gossypium thurberi

Gossypium thurberi

Common Name: Desert Cotton, Arizona Wild Cotton, Thurber's Cotton
O’odham 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 fruits 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 – Thurber's cotton

More Information

Arizona Distribution Map (USDA)