Ma‘o is a genuine cotton plant, but a species endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The cotton grown for producing cotton thread (G. hirsutum hybrid) is distingished by much longer white fibers surrounding the seeds in the "boll" as compared with the shorter brownish fibes of the native cotton.

Ma‘o grows best in dry, sunny locations. The plant is not used to produce cloth; the fibers are too short to twist into thread. The Hawaiians prepared cloth from the bark of wauke (Broussonetia papyrifera). However, cotton clothing today is produced from commercial cotton plants: a GMO with genes inserted from the Hawaiian cotton plant. Below is the boll from upland cotton, a naturalized species in Hawai‘i