Other names associated with this species include Sea Island, Egyptian, Pima, and extra-long staple (ELS) cotton.

It grows as a bush or small tree and yields cotton with unusually long, silky fibers.

It is now cultivated around the world, including China, Egypt, Sudan, India, Australia, Peru, Israel, the southwestern United States, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Paul A. Fryxell argues, although the evidence surviving from Linnaeus's time is less than ideal, the name is applied correctly.

If allowed to, it can grow into a large bush or even a small tree of height 1–3 m.[3] Leaves are mostly 8–20 cm long, with 3-7 lobes.

[3] The petals of Sea Island cultivars typically are creamy yellow with a red spot at the base, and as they wither, they turn rose pink.

However, available evidence, such as seeds found in the floors of ancient houses, could be the result of either cultivated or wild-gathered cotton.

Native Americans grew cotton widely throughout South America and in the West Indies, where Christopher Columbus encountered it.

At the time of Columbus, indigenous peoples of the West Indies raised G. barbadense as a dooryard crop, single plants near residences.

[1] The advent of worldwide trade resulted in many kinds of plants being introduced to new places (see Columbian exchange).

Since then, most of these regions have transitioned to specialize in a particular kind of cotton, resulting in the distinctive market classes of today.

[1]: 75 During the 17th century, European colonists in the English West Indies developed cotton as a cash crop for export to Europe, establishing numerous plantations operated by white indentured servants and Black slaves to do so.

There have been a few periods since the early 1800s when cotton production has been attractive in the West Indies, but generally sugar cane has been more profitable.

[1]: 56 G. barbadense is now cultivated around the world, including China, Egypt, Sudan, India, Australia, Peru, Israel, the southwestern United States, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

In the markets of Europe, it suffered little competition from cottons with similar characteristics from its inception until the interruption of trade resulting from the U.S. Civil War.

A distinctive cotton could not be developed in the Sea Islands, at least not by the methods of hybridization or selection, because frost killed the plants before they had a chance to produce seed.

[1]: 91–93 One possible explanation was that the changes happened accidentally in a region with long growing season and then were introduced to the Sea Islands.

He then demonstrated this could be rather easily back-hybridized (see introgression) to form a cotton that retained these desirable characteristics, yet was almost entirely G. barbadense.

He argued that such an event could have happened accidentally in the 18th century, resulting in the long, fine fiber G. barbadense of today.

According to historical records, planters in Georgia were trying to introduce G. barbadense, but the plants would die from frost before they could produce seed or fiber.

[1]: 93–95 Historical records credit Kinsey Burden of developing the particularly high-quality cotton that came to be associated with the Sea Islands.

[1]: 96  The Sea Islands region parted ways with the rest of the southeastern United States, specializing in this high-quality G. barbadense.

By 1803, the Charleston SC market recognized class distinctions of Sea Island, South Carolina upland, West Indian, and Mississippi.

[1]: 136  In the early 20th century, the boll weevil caused tremendous damage in the traditional cotton-growing regions of the United States.

[1] In the last half of the 19th century, cotton production in Egypt grew dramatically because of expansion of irrigation and increased demand because of the United States civil war.

[13] Although Tanguis represents a tiny fraction of the worldwide market, it is remarkable because it was developed relatively recently from local populations in G. barbadense's home territory of Peru.

Although it produces fiber shorter and rougher than other modern market classes, it has unique properties useful for certain industrial applications.

However, the reputations of the names "Egyptian" and to a lesser extent "Pima" have been degraded by items made of lower quality fiber.

To overcome this difficulty, a group of American Pima growers established the name Supima for finished products.

This group of growers hold trademark rights, enabling them to enforce quality and origin requirements for Supima products.