Weekly Photo – Darwin’s Cotton in the Galapagos

On the walk to Las Grietas we saw this weird looking plant. Being from Eastern Canada, we have never seen a cotton plant before (not even in books). Sheltered, I know.

Our guide told us that this was the Galapagos Cotton plant (also known as Darwin’s Cotton, latin Gossypium darwinii). It was both in bloom and gone to seed. It was like it was growing little cotton balls.

It is generally felt that they arrived in the Galapagos via wind, bird droppings or in sea debris. There are a group of people who suggest that Incan brought them hundreds of years ago, although this hasn’t been confirmed.