Description

Gossypium herbaceum, Levant cotton, is an annual or short-lived perennial shrub of the family Malvaceae, believed to have been first domesticated in the Indus Valley region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent over 5,000 years ago — one of the earliest agricultural domestication events in South Asian history. India remains among the world’s leading cotton-producing nations. The kernel (Magaj or meal) of the cotton seed — separated from the seed coat and the lint — is rich in fixed oil and protein and has been documented in Unani pharmacopoeial texts as an emollient, nutritive, and galactagogue preparation. The seed oil is referenced in Ayurvedic external applications. In Unani medicine, the kernel is incorporated in Mu’ajjan (paste) formulations for male reproductive and nutritive tonic preparations.