Gossypium (/ɡɒˈsɪpiəm/)[2] is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Gossypieae of the mallow family, Malvaceae, from which cotton is harvested.

Cotton is thus of great importance for agriculture, industry and trade, especially for tropical and subtropical countries in Africa, South America and Asia.

Generally shrubs or shrub-like plants, the species of this genus are extraordinarily diverse in morphology and adaptation, ranging from fire-adapted, herbaceous perennials in Australia to trees in Mexico.

[3] Most wild cottons are diploid, but a group of five species from America and Pacific islands are tetraploid, apparently due to a single hybridization event around 1.5 to 2 million years ago.

These fibres are the more commercially interesting part of the plant and they are separated from the seed by a process called ginning.

At the first ginning, the longer fibres, called staples, are removed and these are twisted together to form yarn for making thread and weaving into high quality textiles.

At the second ginning, the shorter fibres, called "linters", are removed, and these are woven into lower quality textiles (which include the eponymous lint).

The public sector effort continues with the goal to create a high-quality, draft genome sequence from reads generated by all sources.