1. East Indian shrub cultivated especially for ornament for its pale yellow to deep purple blossoms • Syn: Gossypium arboreum • Hypernyms: cotton, cotton plant 2. small bushy tree grown on islands of the Caribbean and off the Atlantic coast of the southern United States; yields cotton with unusually long silky fibers • Syn: sea island cotton, Gossypium barbadense • Hypernyms: cotton, cotton plant