Many people wonder about cotton’s origin, often picturing it growing on large trees. This highlights a common misconception about a ubiquitous natural fiber. Understanding its origin clarifies its unique place among textile materials.
The Cotton Plant’s True Nature
Cotton does not grow on trees, but on a plant classified as a shrub. A shrub in the Gossypium genus (mallow family, including hibiscus), cotton is commercially cultivated as an annual crop. These bushy plants typically reach 1 to 1.2 meters (3 to 4 feet) in height.
The plant features broad, heart-shaped leaves with three to five lobes and a central stem from which numerous branches extend. A deep taproot, extending up to 1.5 meters into the soil, helps the plant access water and nutrients. While naturally perennials, cotton plants are primarily grown as annuals to maximize fiber yield.
How Cotton Grows and is Harvested
Cotton seeds are typically planted in spring. Around 35 to 47 days after planting, small flower buds, known as squares, appear. These squares develop into flowers, initially blooming white or creamy yellow. Within a day or two of pollination, flowers change color to pink or reddish before falling off.
After the flower drops, a protective casing called a cotton boll forms and ripens. Inside this boll, cellulose fibers elongate and then thicken, surrounding the cotton seeds. This development takes about 50 days from pollination, leading to the boll splitting open to reveal fluffy white cotton fibers. Once open, cotton is ready for harvest, either manually or mechanically. Handpicking yields cleaner, higher-quality cotton but is labor-intensive; mechanical harvesters offer efficiency for large-scale operations.
Why Cotton is Not From Trees
The persistent idea that cotton grows on trees may stem from historical misinterpretations or the existence of “cottonwood” trees. Early European accounts sometimes called cotton “tree wool” due to unfamiliarity with its origin. Cottonwood trees produce a fluffy, cotton-like substance for seed dispersal, but these are not textile fibers.
Unlike cotton, a seed fiber from a shrub, several other natural fibers derive from trees. Rayon, for example, is a semi-synthetic fiber from regenerated cellulose, primarily sourced from wood pulp. This process involves extensive chemical treatment of the wood pulp to create the textile fiber. Additionally, fibers like kapok come from ceiba tree seedpods, and certain bast fibers are extracted from various plant stems or bark. These tree-derived fibers undergo different extraction and processing methods compared to cotton harvesting.