Types of cotton

There are four commercially-grown species of cotton:

 -Gossypium hirsutum – upland cotton, native to Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and southern Florida, (90% of world production)

 -Gossypium barbadense – known as extra-long staple cotton, native to tropical South America (8% of world production)

-Gossypium arboreum – tree cotton, native to India and Pakistan (less than 2%)
 Tree cotton is a shrub attaining heights of one to two metres. Its branches are covered with pubescence and are purple in colour. Stipules are present at the leaf base and they are linear to lanceolate in shape and sometimes falcate.

-Gossypium herbaceum – Levant cotton, native to southern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula (less than 2%)