This review generalizes information on the composition of the components of cottonplant leaves : hydrocarbons, organic, amino, and hydroxy acids, alcohols, triterpenes, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, sugars, pectin substances, polyisoprenoids, diols, tocopherols, sterol esters, and others. Their role in the growth and development of the plant and their biological properties are discussed.The cotton plant (Gossypium L., Malvaceae), growing in tropical and and subtropical regions of Asia, America, Australia, and Africa, is represented by 35 species. One of the four cultivated species --G. hirsutum --grows in the republics of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaidzhan, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, and other main cotton-planting countries.A many-sided chemical study of the vegetative and generative organs of the cotton plant has permitted A. S. Sadykov and his students to isolate more than 100 compounds of various classes [1][2][3]. Cottonplant leaves (CLs) are the least used organ of the plant, although they make up 22 % of the total mass of the epigeal part. Both pinched-out CLs and those gathered at the end of vegetation can be used as sources of various biologically active compounds [3]. They contain a broad set of compounds, from extremely simple to complex. Six individual saturated hydrocarbons have been isolated from the CLs and other vegetative organs and identified: tetracosane, hexacosane, octacosane, triacontane, dotriacontane, and hexatriacontane [4,5]. The hydrocarbon composition of CLs has been characterized in [6,7].In addition to hydrocarbons, such high-molecular-mass alcohols as decan-l-ol, hexadecan-l-ol, heptadecan-l-ol, octadecan-l-ol, octacosan-l-ol, triacontan-l-ol, and dotriacontan-l-ol have been identified in CLs [2,4,5,7].The acid composition of CLs has been investigated in most detail. It comprises 17 [sic] organic acids [1,2,8,9]: cis-aconitic. The dynamics of the seasonal changes of such organic acids as oxalic, malic, citric, acetic, and others, have been studied. Their qualitative composition and quantitative ratio differ from variety to variety (108-F, 137-F, 2 and 3, 10964, 1306-DV) and also depend on the level at which the leaves are growing and on the vegetation period. The maximum level of organic acids is found at the end of the vegetation period, when the leaves are no longer necessary for the plant. CLs are rich in vitamins: ascorbic and nicotinic acids, riboflavin, inositol, vitamin P, and, particularly, provitamin A --carotene [2,3]. With respect to their ascorbic acid content they approximate to tomatoes, and the ascorbic acid is present both in free and bound form. Its level scarcely changes in vegetating leaves, but falls sharply when the leaves wither, which shows its participation in photosynthesis [8]. In their citric acid content (7.5%), CLs are not inferior to lemons, pomegranates, and makhorka [3], while their level of malic acid is surpassed only by barberries and rowan berries [3] Up to the middle 1960s there was no information in the literature characterizing the fatty ...