Cotton

Gossypium hirsutum

American Upland Cotton Common Cotton Cotton Upland Cotton Wild Cotton Parts used Uses Habitat and cultivation Research Constituents

Cotton - an annual herb or shrub 2 - 5 feet tall. Grayish-green alternate leaves, 2 - 6 inches long, are usually three-lobed. Cup-shaped flowers of cotton have large, showy, creamy white to yellow petals with a purple or red spot near the base. The fruit capsules (the boll) contain seeds covered with white hairs (the cotton fiber). Cotton produces flowers and fruit throughout most of the year.

Much of United States history once revolved around the cotton plant, because of its economic importance and its connection with the institution of slavery. According to archeologists, as long ago as 3500 B.C., Indians in the Tehuacán Valley of Mexico were probably cultivating G. hirsutum, a cotton species native to tropical America. As a cultivated crop, upland cotton, as this species is frequently called, now constitutes most of the world's cotton crop. Today oil from the seed is also an important product of the plant. It is used in the manufacture of shortening, margarine, and cooking and salad oils.

In addition to cotton's commercial uses, the plant has been considered a "female medicine" by Indian and other folk healers. To ease childbirth, Alabama and Koasati Indian women brewed a root tea and took it at delivery time. Modern herbalists continue this use, which they say is effective because of a substance in the root that increases the contractions of the uterus during birth. Herbalists also state that the root contains a substance that promotes normal menstruation.

PARTS USED

Root bark, seed oil.

USES

Cotton root: bark is rarely used medicinally today. Cotton was once employed as a substitute for ergot (Claviceps pulpurea), the widely used labor-inducing herb. Cotton root bark is both milder-acting and safer in effect, stimulating uterine contractions and hastening a difficult labor. Cotton also promotes abortion or the onset of menstruation, and reduces menstrual flow. The root bark encourages the blood to clot and the secretion of breast milk. Cotton seed oil is also used to treat heavy menstrual bleeding and endometriosis.

The root of cotton has been used as an aid in childbirth, and scientists state that this remedy may have worked. In modern folk medicine a root tea is sometimes given to induce a normal menstrual cycle. Studies show that this use may be valid.

HABITAT AND CULTIVATION

Native to tropical America, cotton grows wild in southern Florida and the keys and is cultivated throughout the southern United States.

RESEARCH

Cotton seeds and seed oil cause infertility in men, and have been tested as a male contraceptive in China. In addition to lowering sperm count, cotton seed oil causes the degeneration of sperm-producing cells.

CONSTITUENTS

Cotton root bark contains gossypol (a sesquiterpene) and flavonoids. Cotton seed contains a fixed oil, which is about 2% gossypol, and flavonoids. Gossypol causes infertility in men.