Plants perennial herbs, shrubs, or small trees, usually conspicuously gland-dotted. Leaves stipilate; stipules filiform to ovate; blades entire to deeply lobed. Inflorescences axillary, of solitary flowers or cymes with up to 3 flowers. Epicalyces of 3 subulate to broadly ovate-cordate, entire to dentate or laciniate bracts; calyces truncate to 5-lobed, usually with irregularly scattered black glands; ovaries 3-5 celled, each cell with 1- many ovules; styles club-shaped. Fruits loculicidal capsules; seeds glabrous, with brownish hairs. and/or white, cottony floss.
Gossyipum includes about 55 species and is native to the tropics and tropics in both the New and Old World, Some species are widely cultivated for the white hairs which are the raw material for cotton, and their seed soils
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.