草棉 cao mian

Gossypium zaitzevii Prokhanov.

Herbs or subshrubs, annual, to 1.5 m tall, pilose. Stipules filiform, 5-10 mm, caducous; petiole 2.5-8 cm, villous; leaf blade usually 5-lobed, 5-10 cm in diam., usually wider than long, lobes broadly ovate, less than 1/2 as long as leaf blade, abaxially minutely puberulent and villous on veins, adaxially stellate hirsute, base cordate, apex acute. Flowers solitary, axillary. Pedicel 1-2 cm, villous. Epicalyx lobes connate at base, broadly triangular, 2-3 cm, wider than long, sparsely villous on veins, 6-8-toothed. Calyx cup-shaped, 5-lobed. Corolla yellow, purple in center, 5-7 cm in diam.; petals 2.5-3 × 3-4 cm. Filaments uniform in length. Capsule usually 3-4-celled, ovoid, ca. 3 cm, apex beaked. Seeds free, obliquely cone-shaped, ca. 10 mm, with white wool and persistent short fuzz. Fl. Jul-Sep.

Cultivated. Gansu, Guangdong, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan [cultivated in India; origin in SW Asia].

Among the races recognized by Hutchinson (Emp. Cotton Gr. Rev. 27: 12. 1950) is "kuljianum," which is found in "Chinese Central Asia."