The cotton plant

When the Greeks came to India, they marveled at the wool that grew on a tree. That was Indian cotton, a marvel of nature, favorite of Gandhi and his spinning wheel and for which India remains famous. We have one plant at the monastery

This is the flower. For those of you who may think it familiar, yes it is a relative of the common hau bush found all over Kauai.

Each of these puffs of cotton is full of seeds--the obstacle finally overcome by the cotton gin which made processing much easier.

Nothing particularly shapely about it, but you can see the burst cotton bolls hanging from the branches.

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