Cotton plants look a lot like bean plants in their growing habit. Or even poison ivy with the three leaved stems. The flowers are pink when they first open then turn white when fully open; like morning glories, they follow the sun. The newly formed bolls are green balls on the stems (below) before they burst open revealing the white cotton fibers with the seeds embedded inside.

These fields can stretch for miles of green vegetation broken only by oil wells! In the fall, the farmer will use vegetation killer to kill the plants so the cotton strippers can remove the cotton bolls more efficiently. Being dead, the bolls break off the stems easily with less lint collected, making ginning easier.

Then the cotton bolls make a one way trip to the local cotton gin.