Gossypium in the context of Subtropical

Cotton (from Arabic qutn) is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus Gossypium in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor percentages of waxes, fats, pectins, and water. Under natural conditions, the cotton bolls will increase the dispersal of the seeds.

The plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa, Egypt and India. The greatest diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia and Africa. Cotton was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds.

Gossypium arboreum, commonly called tree cotton, is a species of cotton native to Indian subcontinent and other tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World. There is evidence of its cultivation as long ago as the Indus Valley Civilisation of the Indus River for the production of cotton textiles. The shrub was included in Linnaeus's Species Plantarum published in 1753. The holotype was also supplied by him, which is now in the Linnean Herbarium in the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

Gossypium hirsutum, also known as upland cotton or Mexican cotton, is the most widely planted species of cotton in the world. Globally, about 90% of all cotton production is of cultivars derived from this species. In the United States, the world's largest exporter of cotton, it constitutes approximately 95% of all cotton production. It is native to Mexico, the West Indies, northern South America, Central America and possibly tropical Florida.

Archeological evidence from the Tehuacan Valley in Mexico shows the cultivation of this species as long ago as 3,500 BC, although there is as yet no evidence as to exactly where it may have been first domesticated. This is the earliest evidence of cotton cultivation in the Americas found thus far.

Gossypium herbaceum, commonly known as Levant cotton, is a species of cotton native to the semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa and Arabia, where it still grows perennially in the wild as a shrub.

Gossypieae is a tribe of the flowering plant subfamily Malvoideae. It includes the cotton (Gossypium) and related plants. It is distinguished from the Hibisceae on the basis of embryo structure and its apparently unique possession of glands able to synthesize the pigment gossypol.