Gossypium stocksii Masters in Fl. Brit. India 1: 346. 1874; T. Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bombay 1: 115. 1901.

Shrubs or prostrate undershrubs, stellate-pubescent. Leaves 1 - 3.5 x 1.5 - 5 cm, cordate at base, 3 - 5 lobed, palmately nerved, black dotted with oil glands, stellate-pubescent, ultimately glabrescent; petioles 1 - 3 cm long, stellate-tomentose, black gland- dotted; stipules 3 - 6 mm long, linear-Ianceolate to ovate, entire or serrate. Flowers solitary, axillary; pedicels up to 1 cm long in fruit, stellate-tomentose, black gland-dotted. epicalyx segments 1 - 2.5 x 0.5 - 1.5 cm, free, foliaceous, broadly ovate, truncate or rounded at base, laciniate, lobes 8 - 12, linear-Ianceolate with rounded sinuses, black gland-dotted, pubescent. Calyx 5 - 8 mm long, cupular, 5-dentate. corolla yellow with purple base, campanulate, 1.5 - 2 cm across; petals 2 - 3 x 1 - 1.5 cm. Staminal column antheriferous throughout. Capsules 1 - 2 cm long, ca 1 cm across, ovoid, prominently gland-dotted, usually 5 locular. Seeds 2 or 3 in each locule, wedge-shaped, yellowish or brownish tomentose.

Fl. Dec.

Distrib. India: Gujarat.

Pakistan(Sind), S.E. Arabia and Somaliland.

Notes. Ansari(Pakistan cottons 2: 27 - 32. 1958) based on the ecology ;)f this species comments that the wild plants were singularly free of pests and diseases and speculates on the possible genetic potential of this species in producing drought and disease resistant cultivated Asiatic cottons through hybridization.