An extreme form of immature cotton with a very thin fibre wall
Note: Commonly the cause is excessively slow secondary growth, resulting in many of the fibres having developed only a thin secondary wall by the time the boll opens. It is sometimes caused by premature ‘death’ or cessation of growth due to factors such as local pest attack, incidence of some types of disease, or curtailment of the life of the plant itself, resulting in the death of the fibres before the full potential secondary-wall thickening has been reached. Particularly for such fibres there may be no secondary thickening at all. The fibres are weak, brittle and lacking in twist or convolutions, become easily entangled into neps, and are generally lacking in lustre, with a ‘dead’ appearance, although some fibres without any secondary thickening tend to stick together and show up as small bundles in ginned raw cotton.
see also immature cotton
Textile Resource (http://www.textile.org.uk)
