''Gossypium thurberi'', also known as Arizona wild cotton, Thurber's cotton, or desert cotton, is a wild
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
cotton
Cotton 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 perce ...
.
Description
Their
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s are not showy, but the palm-shaped green leaves turn maroon in autumn.
[Fryxell, P. A. 1976. A nomenclator of ''Gossypium''. The botanical names of cotton. ''Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A.'' 1491:73.]
Distribution
It is native to the
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...
area of northern
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and parts of the US state of
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
.
[USDA - ''Gossypium thurberi'']
/ref> It is often used in southern Arizona landscapes as a deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
to small tree up to tall. It is a larval
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The l ...
food plant for the royal moth (''Citheronia splendens
''Citheronia splendens'', the splendid royal moth, is a moth of the family Saturniidae. It is found from southern Arizona south into central and south-eastern Mexico. The species was first described by Herbert Druce in 1886.
The wingspan is . A ...
sinaloensis'').[Soule, J.A. 2012. ''Butterfly Gardening in Southern Arizona''. Tierra del Soule Press, Tucson, AZ]
References
External links
USDA - ''Gossypium thurberi''
thurberi
{{Gossypieae-stub