Natives For Your Neighborhood
Conservation of rare plants, animals, and ecosystems

General Landscape Uses: It is currently ILLEGAL to grow wild cotton in Florida (see commments below).

Description: Medium to large shrub with wide-spreading branches and a broadly rounded crown. Leaves lobed, 2-6 inches long.

Dimensions: About 6-12 feet in height. As broad as tall or broader.

Growth Rate: Moderate.

Range: Monroe County Keys north to Palm Beach and Pinellas counties; West Indies, Mexico, Central America and South America. Perhaps never present or extirpated in Broward County.

 Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.

Habitats: Coastal hammocks and thickets.

Soils: Moist, well-drained limestone or sandy soils, with or without humusy top layer.

Nutritional Requirements: Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive.

Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.

Salt Wind Tolerance: Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.

Drought Tolerance: Moderate to high; plants growing in extremely dry soils may die during extended periods of drought.

Light Requirements: Full sun to light shade.

Flower Color: Creamy white to pale yellow, usually with a red spot at the base of the petals, turning dark pink with age.

Flower Characteristics: Showy, about 1-2" wide.

Flowering Season: All year.

Fruit: Triangular capsule that opens exposing cotton seed covering.

Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host plant for gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus) butterflies.

Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.

References: Hammer 2004

Comments: It is related to commercial cotton, and the USDA attempted to wipe this plant out in Florida in the early 1900s due to the fact that it is a potential host to the boll weevil. It is now illegal to grow wild cotton in Florida for this reason. It is also listed as endangered by the state of Florida.