Citation: L., Sp. PL 693 (1753).

Derivation: Latin gossypion, the cotton tree, derived from the same Arabic word as cotton.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: None

Description:
Perennial woody shrubs, glabrous but with small dark oil-glands on almost all organs; leaves alternate, entire, ovate to obovate or orbicular.

flowers bisexual, pedunculate in leaf axils, showy; epicalyx of 3 free leaf-like segments enclosing the calyx, with a coloured nectary at the base of each; calyx fused for most of its length, with 5 small lobes; petals 5, purplish; anthers numerous, at the apex of a long tube; carpels usually 5, in a single whorl; stigmas usually 5, capitate, terminating the unbranched style.

Fruit a loculicidal capsule dehiscing by 4 or 5 valves, ovoid, with many shortly pubescent seeds.

Distribution:  20-30 species in warm parts of the world; 8 species in Australia. (Fryxell (1965)Aust. J. Bot. 13:71-102).

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available