Gossypium thurberi

Gossypium thurberi, also known as Arizona wild cotton, Thurber's cotton, or desert cotton, is a wild species of cotton.[1]

Desert cotton
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Gossypium
Species:
G. thurberi
Binomial name
Gossypium thurberi
Synonyms
  • Thurberia thespesioides A.Gray

Description

Their flowers are not showy, but the palm-shaped green leaves turn maroon in autumn.[2]

Distribution

It is native to the Sonoran Desert area of northern Mexico and parts of the US state of Arizona.[3] It is often used in southern Arizona landscapes as a deciduous shrub to small tree up to 10 feet (3.0 m) tall. It is a larval food plant for the royal moth (Citheronia splendens sinaloensis).[4]

References
  1. Fryxell, P. A. 1992. A revised taxonomic interpretation of Gossypium L. (Malvaceae). Rheedea 2:136.
  2. Fryxell, P. A. 1976. A nomenclator of Gossypium. The botanical names of cotton. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1491:73.
  3. USDA - Gossypium thurberi
  4. Soule, J.A. 2012. Butterfly Gardening in Southern Arizona. Tierra del Soule Press, Tucson, AZ


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