Leaves alternate, simple, palmately veined with stipules
Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, often subtended by bracteoles, filaments united into a tube or column (monadelphous), infl. often cymose
Fruit a capsule or schizocarp
Seed with curved embryo, usually without endosperm, oily
75 genera, 1000 species
Economic importance: Gossypium is used to produce cotton fibers (seed hairs), cottonseed meal and oil; cotton has been cultivated for 5000 years; Althaea (marshmallow), Hibiscus (ornamentals), Abelmoschus (okra)
Diagnostic characteristics: monadelphous stamens, palmately veined leaves, pistil with many carpels
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