Cotton is a crop produced around the globe, driving the world’s textile industry, and is quite unusual in that it is simultaneously both a food and fiber crop. Cotton is a versatile fiber: it can be used for everything from heavy industrial canvas to some of the world’s finest fabrics, and also finds uses in housewares, bed linens, medical supplies, and even photographic film and videotape. This unique and valuable plant, related to both hibiscus and mallows, has pretty yellow and maroon flowers, followed by large seed pods that burst open revealing the large fluffy bolls of cotton. Cottonseed is the seed of the cotton plant. Cottonseed oil is used in the industry of food (as an ingredient of margarines) and in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. It is also used for the production rubber and plastics.
| Name | Cottonseed |
|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Gossypium hirsutum |
| Native | Tropical and subtropical Americas, the Caribbean, and questionably some Pacific islands |
| Common/English Name | Upland Cotton, Mexican Cotton, American cotton, American upland cotton, Bourbon cotton |
| Name in Other Languages | Swedish: Texasbomull Chamorro: Algodon Tongan: Vavae English: American cotton Tahitian: Vavai Fijian: Vauvau French: Coton velu Maori (Cook Islands): vavai Samoan: Vavae German: Amerikanische Baumwolle Spanish: Algodón Portuguese: Algodoeiro-americano Chinese: Gao di mian |
| Plant Growth Habit | Annual or perennial herb or shrub |
| Growing Climate | Requires a long frost-free period, plenty of sunshine, and a moderate rainfall |
| Soil | Tolerant of a wide variety of soils, but thrives best on deep, friable, moisture-holding soils with good humus supply. |
| Plant Size | Ranges from 40 to 45 cm to 1.5 to 2 m tall. |
| Root | Well-developed taproot with numerous laterals penetrating as deeply as 3 m |
| Branches | Branches of two kinds: vegetative and fruiting |
| Leaf | Broad and heart shaped three-segmented greenish leaves, which are about 2 inches to 6 inches in length and emerge alternately on the stem. |
| Flower | Cup-shaped with big and flashy petals whose hue ranges from white to yellow. The flowers have a purplish or reddish spot close to their base. |
| Fruit Shape and Size | Capsules up to 4-6cm long, spherical, smooth broadly ovoid to sub globose; beaked at tip; 3-5-celled, each cell contains up to 11 copiously hairy and fuzzy seeds |
| Fruit Color | Green when young turning brown as they mature |
| Seed Shape & Size | Ovoid, 3.5–10 mm long, acute at the hilum, with a dense covering of white or rusty, long, woolly hairs (lint or floss) and with a fine, short tomentum (fuzz) everywhere or only at the hilum, about 36 per fruit |
| Seed Color | Black or brown |
| Weight of 100 Seeds | 10–13 g |
| Major Nutrition | Total Fat (lipid) 218 g (622.86%) Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) 76.95 mg (513.00%) Vitamin K (phylloquinone) 53.8 µg (44.83%) Choline 0.4 mg (0.07%) |
| Health Benefits |
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| Calories in 1 cup (218 gm) | 1927 K cal |