Cotton was cultivated by the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization by the 5th millennium BC - 4th millennium BC. Gossypium is a genus of 39-40 species of shrubs in the mallow family, Malvaceae, native to the tropical and subtropical regions. The cotton plants, sources of commercial cotton fabric, are included in this genus. Prominent types of commercially grown cotton are Egyptian, Sea Island, Asiatic, American Pima (Gossypium barbadense) and Upland (Gossypium hirsutum.) The US grow Upland (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia,) and American Pima (Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas) cotton. Florida is not known as a state that grows cotton commercially although cotton can certainly grow here. The reason being that the soil is not adequate for producing good cotton crop.
This photo taken today shows several cotton plants right here in Miami that illustrate the full cycle of a typical cotton plant. From seed planting, to the appearance of "pinhead squares," the tiny wrinkling young bracteal leaves that prelude the beautiful yellow flowers (seen in insert) to the bolls (fruits) that pop open revealing locks of white cotton embedded with black cotton seeds, the process takes about 6 months. Walking back through the calendar, these plants must have been planted around October-November of 2008. These plants are grown as a curiosity so the cotton will not be picked, I am sure. Historically, picking cotton is extremely hard labor that punishes the laborers to the extreme so cotton-picking machines were invented, thank goodness!
Florida was a cotton state, until the pink boll weevil showed up. The weevil was so bad that Florida made cotton growing illegal. Even one plant in a back yard is illegal. I think that law is still valid. I had a plant when I was a youngster and my dad made me pull it out.
ReplyDeleteThen I won't tell you where thess plants are ;>)
ReplyDeleteThe cotton species that is illegal in Florida is Gossypium hirsuta, which is the wild cotton. Because illegal, it was eradicated. Because it was eradicated, it was declared to be an endangered species! So, it is now illegal to kill this plant but it is illegal to have it, a wonderful catch-22 situation. Only in America! You may be interested to know that there are about 100,000 acres of cotton grown commercially in the panhandle of Florida. You can also find the illegal wild cotton at a number of state and county parks across Florida.
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