Kapas / Cotton Plant
Gossypium arboreum
Also known as Tree Cotton
- Habit
- Shrub
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat & more
- Flowering
- September-February
How to identify Kapas
Identify Kapas by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a shrub habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Cotton fibers in seed pod.
- Confirm leaf shape: Lanceolate.
- Confirm leaf margin: Lobed.
- Confirm flower colour: Yellow.
- Confirm fruit type: Capsule.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: September-February.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Gossypium arboreum
- Genus
- Gossypium
- Family
- Malvaceae
- Habit
- Shrub
- Habitat
- Cultivated
- Habitat type
- Cultivated
- Distribution
- Paleotropics
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand
- Flowering & fruiting
- September-February
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- LanceolaterecordedLong and narrow, tapering to a point, like a lance head.“Stipules are present at the leaf base and they are linear to lanceolate in shape and sometimes falcate (i.e.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Leaf margin
- LobedrecordedThe edge is divided into rounded or pointed sections that don't reach the midrib.“The blades are ovate to orbicular in shape and have five to seven lobes, making them superficially resemble a maple leaf.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Kapas itself; the rest are typical of the Malvaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Yellowrecorded
- Fruit type
- CapsulerecordedA dry fruit from a fused ovary that splits open at maturity to release seeds.“The fruit is a three- or four-celled capsule measuring 1.5 to 2.5 centimetres (0.59 to 0.98 in) across.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Solitary
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Kapas itself; the rest are typical of the Malvaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- Kapas कपास
- Nepali
- रुख कपास Rukh kapas, कपासको बोट
- Bengali
- কার্পাস, কার্পাস তুলা
- Tamil
- பருத்தி parutthi
- Kannada
- ಹತ್ತಿ Hatti, ಪತ್ತಿ Patti, ಪರ್ತಿ Parti
- Marathi
- कापूस Kapoos
About Kapas
A member of the Malvaceae family, Cotton plant (Gossypium arboreum) is a shrub. In India it has been recorded in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat and 7 other states. It is cultivated. Flowering and fruiting run from September to February.
Malvaceae
Mallow/Hibiscus family
Kapas belongs to the Malvaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
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