TREE COTTON

Cotton plants belong to the genus GOSSYPIUM of the Hibiscus Family. Over 20 Gossypium species exist, and there are many cultivated varieties. Cotton grown in the US is herbaceous and about knee high. Here we have a cotton species that grows as a woody, perennial bush -- Tree Cotton, probably GOSSYPIUM BARBADENSE.

The plant is about eight feet tall and currently is in its leafless, dry-season condition. However, new three-lobed leaves are just emerging from certain buds as the bolls are bursting with cotton. That's it at the right, with the blue-eyed dog beneath it still wandering around looking for a home