The Correct Name for the Hawaiian Gossypium

Abstract

For almost a century the endemic Hawaiian Gossypium has been known as G. tomentosum. This species has received much attention especially in recent years since it has been thought by some to form together with the two American cultivated cottons, G. hirsutum L. and G. barbadense L., a small section of closely related species with a similar distinctive origin. The section is unique within the genus in that its three related species, as interpreted by Hutchinson, Silow, and Stephens (1947), are alloretraplaids reputedly having derived one genome from the diploid American complex and another from the group to which the Asiatic and African cultivated cottons belong. Naturally species with apparently as bizarre an origin as these three have been frequently discussed in the cytological, genetical, and phytogeographical literature. As a result the name G. tomentosum has become very well known indeed for the Hawaiian plant. Unfortunately for the sake of stability, this application of the name