cotton Seed-hair fibre of various plants of the genus Gossypium, in the mallow family, native to most sub¬ tropical countries. The shrubby plants produce creamy white flow¬ ers, followed by small green seed- pods (cotton bolls), which contain the seeds. Fibres growing from the outer skin of the seeds become tightly packed within the boll, which bursts open at maturity to reveal soft masses of the white to yellowish white fibres. Cotton is harvested when the bolls open. One of the world’s leading agricultural crops, cotton is plentiful and economically produced, making cotton products relatively inexpensive. The fibres can be made into a diverse array of fabrics suitable for a great variety of apparel, home furnishings, and industrial uses. Cotton fabrics can be extremely durable and are comfortable to wear. Nonwoven cotton, made by fusing or bonding the fibres, is useful for making disposable products including towels, polishing cloths, tea bags, tablecloths, bandages, and disposable uniforms and sheets for hospital and other medical uses.
Cotton, John (b. Dec. 4, 1585, Derby, Derbyshire, Eng.—d. Dec. 23, 1652, Boston, Mass.) Anglo-American Puritan leader. He studied at the University of Cambridge, where he first encountered Puritanism. From 1612 to 1633 he served as a vicar in Lincolnshire. When English church authorities filed charges against him for his Nonconformism, he sailed for New England in 1633. As “teacher” of the First Church of Boston (1633— 52), he became an influential leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He wrote a widely used children’s catechism and defended Puritan orthodoxy in such books as The Way of the Churches of Christ in New England (1645). He opposed freedom of conscience, as preached by Roger Will¬ iams, favoring a national theocratic society.
Cotton, King See King Cotton
Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce (b. Jan. 22, 1571, Denton, Lancashire, Eng.—d. May 6, 1631, London?) English antiquarian. From c. 1585 Cot¬ ton collected ancient records, manuscripts, books, and coins and wel¬ comed scholars to his library. He entered Parliament in 1601 and was favoured at court until c. 1615. His acquisition of so many public docu¬ ments aroused misgivings, and after he wrote several works criticizing policies of Charles I, his library was sealed in 1629. After his death his son regained possession of the library, and his great-grandson presented it to the nation in 1700. The Cottonian Library’s historical documents formed the basis of the manuscript collection of the British Library.
Cotton Belt Agricultural region of the southeastern U.S. where cotton is the main cash crop. Once confined to the pre-Civil War South, the Cot¬ ton Belt was pushed west after the war. Today it extends primarily through North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, western Ten¬ nessee, eastern Arkansas, Louisiana, eastern Texas, and southern Okla¬ homa.
cotton boll worm See corn earworm
Cotton Club Nightclub in New York City’s Harlem district in the 1920s and ’30s. It opened in 1922 at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue under the management of the reputed bootlegger Owney Madden (1892-1964). It became fashionable and featured the finest African American performers in the U.S., performing for an exclusively white audience. Louis Arm¬ strong, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, and Ethel Waters were among its featured artists. The club later moved downtown
(1936-40).
cotton gin Machine for cleaning cotton of its seeds. The design that became standard was invented in the U.S. by Eli Whitney in 1793. The mechanization of spinning in England had created a greatly expanded market for U.S. cotton, but production was bottlenecked by the manual removal of the seeds from the raw fibre. The cotton gin pulled the cotton through a set of wire teeth mounted on a revolving cylinder, the fibre passing through narrow slots in an iron breastwork too small to permit passage of the seed. The simplicity of the invention caused it to be widely copied. It is credited with making cotton the most important export crop of the U.S. before the American Civil War, as settlers and their slaves spread westward through prime cotton-growing regions of South Caro¬ lina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas.
cottonmouth moccasin See water moccasin
cottonwood Any of several fast-growing North American trees of the genus Populus. Members of the wil¬ low family, cottonwoods have heart- shaped, toothed leaves and cottony seeds. The dangling leaves clatter in the wind. The eastern cottonwood ( P. deltoides) has thick glossy leaves.
Carolina poplar ( P. angulata ) and P. eugenei may be natural hybrids between P. deltoides and the Eur¬ asian black poplar ( P. nigra). The Alamo, or Fremont cottonwood (P. fremontii ), is the tallest of the group.
See also poplar.
cottony-cushion scale Scale insect ( Icerya purchasi, order Homoptera) that is a pest especially of California citrus trees. The adult lays bright red eggs in a distinctive large white mass that juts out from a twig. Distributed worldwide, cottony-cushion scale is found on many other plants, including acacia, pittosporum, and willow. Australian ladybird beetles (see ladybug), a natural enemy, have been imported to keep it from destroying the Cali¬ fornia citrus industry.
cotyledon \,ka-t3-'le-d 3 n\ Seed leaf within the embryo of a seed that provides energy and nutrients for the developing seedling. After the first true leaves have formed, they wither and fall off. Flowering plants whose embryos have a single cotyledon are grouped as monocots, or monocoty- ledonous plants; embryos with two cotyledons are grouped as dicots, or dicotyledonous plants. Unlike flowering plants, gymnosperms usually have several cotyledons rather than one or two. See illustration on opposite page.
Coubertin \ku-ber-'ta n \ / Pierre, baron de (b. Jan. 1, 1863, Paris, France—d. Sept. 2, 1937, Geneva, Switz.) French educator, primarily responsible for the revival of the Olympic Games in 1894. He became one of the first advocates of physical education in France. His drive to restart the Olympics, after a 1,500-year suspension, was partly inspired by a visit to Greece, where excavators were uncovering the ancient Olympic site. He served as the second president (1896-1925) of the International Olym¬ pic Committee.
Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum).
ROD HEINRICHS-GRANT HEILMAN
Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides )
KITTY KOHOUT FROM ROOT RESOURCES-EB INC.
Cottony-cushion scales (Icerya pur¬ chasi, magnified)
ROBERT C. HERMES-THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COLLECTION/PHOTO RESEARCHERS
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
couch grass ► counseling I 473
endosperm
cotyledon
coleoptile
epicotyl
hypocotyl
radicle
seed coat fused to ovary wall
seed coat
epicotyl_ _ coleoptile f— first
leaf
radicle
hypocotyl ' root
first leaves
monocotyledon
cotyledons
radicle
dicotyledon
root
Monocotyledon (internal structures of a corn seed with stages of germination). Nutrients are stored in the cotyledon and endosperm tissue. The radicle and hypocotyl (region between the cotyledon and radicle) give rise to the roots. The epicotyl (region above the cotyledon) gives rise to the stem and leaves and is covered by a protective sheath (coleoptile). Dicotyledon (internal structures of a bean seed with stages of germination). All nutrients are stored in the enlarged cotyledons. The radicle gives rise to the roots, the hypocotyl to the lower stem, the epicotyl to the leaves and upper stem.
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