Gossypium (thurberi)
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Allegra Mount Seed Lab Manager Borderlands Restoration PO Box 1191 Patagonia, Arizona 85624 949-690-2592 borderlands.restoration@gmail.com www.borderlandsrestoration.org |
| Family Scientific Name: | Malvaceae | ||
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| Family Common Name: | Mallow Family | ||
| Scientific Name: | Gossypium thurberi Todaro | ||
| Common Name: | Thurber’s Cotton | ||
| Ecotype: | Madrean Archipelago | ||
| General Distribution: |
Commonly found in Sonoran Desert uplands along rocky hillsides and foothills, washes and canyon bottoms up to 5,000 (rarely 7,000) feet in elevation (Kearney and Peebles 1960). Populations often found in disturbed localities such as roadsides. A subspecies of the cotton boll weevil breeds in the desert cotton bolls (Karban and Lowenberg 1992). Research has shown that bolls damaged by these insects can have seeds with higher germination rates than those from unattacked bolls (Karban and Lowenberg 1992). |
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| Propagation Goal: | Plants | ||
| Propagation Method: | Seed | ||
| ProductType: | Container (plug) | ||
| Propagule Collection: |
Seed collection can occur in late October to early November. Simply hand-pick the bolls that have begun to split open. As described above, it is not necessary to avoid bolls with insect damage, as the seeds may have higher germination rates. |
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| Propagule Processing: |
Break the seeds out of the boll by hand, with a mallet, or by stomping on the bolls in a plastic mixing tub. Sieve the seed from the excess debris (sieve size not recorded). Orthodox storage is assumed. No information available on this species. The MAPP seed facility is currently storing desert cotton seeds in sealed tubs in a refrigerator around 7 degrees Celsius. |
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| Establishment Phase: |
Germination rates have seen to be higher after insect predation due to a partial breakdown of the impenetrable seed coat (Karban and Lowenberg 1992). However, the MAPP seed facility has observed many seeds damaged by insects to the point that they are easily obliterated and appear to have no embryo remaining. Kew Royal Botanical Gardens’ Seed Information Database records 85-100% germination in seeds that were nicked with a scalpel. Karban and Lowenberg (1992) tested and recommend a pretreatment of sandpaper scarification followed by a 24-hour warm water soak. Further germination trials are recommended. |
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| References: |
Karban, Richard, and Gregory Lowenberg. "Feeding by seed bugs and weevils enhances germination of wild Gossypium species." Oecologia 92.2 (1992): 196-200. Kearney, Thomas H., and Robert H. Peebles. Arizona Flora. Berkeley: U of California, 1960. Print. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. (2017) Seed Information Database (SID). Version 7.1. Available from: http://data.kew.org/sid/ (February 2017) Borderlands Restoration Network (2018). BRN Native Plant Materials Program Database. Unpublished Raw Data. |
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Citation:
Allen-Cantú, Juniper; Claverie, Francesca; McNelis, Perin; Mount, Allegra. 2018. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Gossypium thurberi Todaro Plants Borderlands Restoration Patagonia, Arizona. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2024/07/03). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.
