Gossypium tomentosum Nutt. ex Seem.

vernacular Hawai'ian cotton — species · Malvaceae

USDA: GOTO
GBIF: 3152655
Rank: species

PlateNo public-domain or CC photograph located.

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Malvaceae Juss.
Genus: Gossypium

§2a

Native status, by region

HI Hawaii Native

§2b

County-level range

· 3 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 3 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: Medium
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: Medium

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 50 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 365 min.
Precipitation: 15–35 in/yr
pH range: 6–7
Root depth: 16 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 6 ft
Height @ 20 y: 6 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Dense
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Indeterminate
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Year Round
Seed ends: Year Round
Spread rate: Moderate
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 8,800
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Palatable, human: No
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 3 counties across 1 state.

Hawaii view state ↗ 3 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/GOTO ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3152655 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T14:42:51Z