The cotton plant consists of roots, stems, leaves, flowers and seeds. Depending on the species and variety, it can be 60–120 cm tall, and tree-like ones can grow to 5-6 m. Cotton has 30–100 cm deep, 50–80 cm pile roots extending to the sides. The first lateral roots occur 8–10 cm below the soil surface. They grow horizontally. The number of lateral roots is 3-4. Each of them branches again and spreads around. With the outward elongation of the epidermis cells, numerous absorbent hairs occur. In general, the root continues vertically in the soil or, after a while, by drawing a zigzag. Under favorable conditions, the root length can reach up to 1.5 m.

There are also cotton varieties in Africa, which are in the form of perennial trees. Cotton stems are erect, branched and very hairy. The leaves are long-stalked, segmented and have a heart-shaped base. The flowers are stalked and located singly in the axils of the leaves. The outer sepals are three-part, and the petals are five-part free. Its fruit is a 3-5-eyed capsule that opens or remains closed at maturity. This capsule is also called a cocoon. Each eye contains 5-10 seeds of blackish color, oval shape and covered with long, dense and white hairs. The cotton seed gets its name with these feathers or fibers around it.