

How to identify Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)
Upland Cotton, also known as American Upland Cotton, Golden Cotton, Cotton
Upland Cotton exhibits robust, upright stature and can reach heights of up to 6 feet (1.8 meters). Its leaves are broad and palmate, divided into 3 to 5 lobes, with a heart-shaped base and pointed tips. The plant's surface is covered with fine hairs giving it a soft and downy texture. Flowers are creamy white to yellow, with a splash of purple or red at the base, and bloom in a cup-shaped formation. They give way to rounded fruit capsules known as bolls, which burst open upon maturity to reveal white, fluffy fibers within.
Broad palmate leaves with 3-5 lobes and soft hairs.
Creamy white to yellow flowers with red or purple base.
Dry capsule fruit with pointed tip and white fluffy fibers.
Cordate leaves with distinct ovate-triangular lobes and soft texture.
Flower color transformation from whitish/yellow to purplish/red.
The leaves of upland Cotton are green, cordate, and alternate, measuring 3-6 inches (7.5-15 cm) long and wide. These leaves are broadly ovate, divided into 3-5 lobes. The lobes range from triangular to ovate-orbicular in shape, offering a distinctive intermediate form between egg-shaped and round. The texture is typically soft and slightly hairy, with a prominent central vein and a network of smaller veins branching out, adding to their identifiable characteristics.
Upland Cotton produces 6-8 large, cup-shaped flowers with 5 petals on fertile branches. Each funnel-shaped flower starts whitish or yellow and gradually becomes purplish or reddish. The outermost calyx consists of 5 triangular, hairy lobes. Inside, the stamens form a column 0.4 to 0.8 inches (1-2 cm) long. The flowers typically appear individually in the leaf axil. This bright transformation during blooming makes upland Cotton flowers distinctive and easy to identify.
The fruit of upland Cotton is a dry, dehiscent capsule that transitions from light green to brown as it matures. Sized at 1.5-2.5 inches (3.8-6.4 cm) in diameter, this round yet somewhat egg-shaped capsule is distinguished by a pointed tip and contains 3-4 compartments. It houses around 36 seeds which are unattached and surrounded by white, wooly fibers, known as cotton. These seeds are approximately 1.4-2 inches (3.5-5 cm) in length and nestled within the capsule, which undergoes a dehiscence process to release the fibers and seeds.
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Scientific Classification of Upland Cotton