Gossypium herbaceum  is subdivided into 2 subspecies: subsp. africanum, the wild form, which is a perennial shrub, and subsp. herbaceum, comprising the cultivated forms, are perennials or annual shrubs.

Gossypium herbaceum subsp. africanum is a shrub growing from 1.5-2 m in height. It has simple, alternate, round leaves with 5–7 rounded lobes ending in a sharp tip. The leaves are hairy and veined from the base.

Flowers are in the leaf axils or on the ends of the short side branches. They are yellow with purple in the centre. Each of the yellow flowers has three large bracts, toothed at the margins, forming a so called epicalyx around the real calyx. The main stem is hairy, green to pale brown colour. The fruit is a 3-lobed, hard, smooth capsule, splitting open to reveal cotton-clad seeds. The wild cotton flowers from early summer to early winter (October to June).