cottonseed

thumb|Cottonseed: brown seeds are wikt:en:gin#Verb|ginned from the fiber boll; white seeds are still wrapped in [[cotton linters]]

Cottonseed is the seed of the cotton plant, formed inside the cotton boll. Cottonseed is the source of cottonseed oil and cottonseed meal. Cottonseed, like the rest of the cotton plant, contains high amounts of gossypol that can be toxic to humans. Cottonseed has been historically used as an ersatz protein-rich food in cotton-producing regions, but the modern biofortification of cotton cultivars with tolerable gossypol levels has particular relevance to impoverished cotton producers.