Gossypium australe

{{short description|Species of flowering plant in the mallow family Malvaceae}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Desert_rose_habit.jpg

|genus = Gossypium

|species = australe

|authority = F.Muell{{cite web

| url = http://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au/browse/flora?f=221&level=s&id=4910&PHPSESSID=acc6562ca10f0b1aa556be7cc5cb54ab

| archive-url = https://archive.today/20110405162640/http://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au/browse/flora?f=221&level=s&id=4910&PHPSESSID=acc6562ca10f0b1aa556be7cc5cb54ab

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = 5 April 2011

| title = Gossypium australe F.Muell.Native Cotton

| access-date = 2007-03-18

| last = Paczkowska

| first = Grazyna

| date = 1996-09-19

| publisher = Florabase, Department of Environment and Conservation

| quote = Gossypium australe. F.Muell. (Native Cotton) Fragm. 1:46 (1858)

}}

}}

Gossypium australe is an endemic woody shrub, related to cotton, found in north western Australia. Preferring sandy soils near watercourses, it grows to about two or three feet tall.

The leaves are grey and hairy, oval to elliptic, {{convert|3|in|cm|0}} long and soft to the touch. Flowers are around {{convert|1|-|2|in|cm|0}} long and present a pale pink mauve 'rose' with a deeper shade at the centre.

Fruit are hairy, spherical and contain a bristly seed {{convert|1/6|in|cm|1|spell=in}} long.{{cite book |last=Chippendale |first=Thelma M |author2=Chippendale, George |title=Wildflowers of Central Australia |orig-year=1968 |edition=Axiom books, Hong Kong |year=1980 |publisher=The Jacaranda Press |location=West Perth |isbn=0-7016-0279-1 |pages=56–57 |quote=Gossypium, from the Arabic for softness; australe, Australian }},

It is sometimes confused with Sturt's desert rose Gossypium sturtianum.