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Hawaiian cotton (Gossypium tomentosum), also called ma‘o, is a species of cotton plant endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The seed hairs (lint) are short and reddish brown, unsuitable for spinning or twisting into thread.
Genetic studies indicate that Hawaiian cotton is intermediate between the two major native American species, Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense and that its ancestor may have come to the islands from the Americas, approximately 500 year ago, as a seed on the wind or in the droppings of a bird, or as part of floating debris.[clarify]
Cotton boll of
Gossypium tomentosum
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