Cottonseed is the small, hard-hulled oilseed of the cotton plant (Gossypium), the fuzzy seed left behind after the lint is ginned from the boll. Crushed on a vast scale, it yields cottonseed oil — one of the world's major vegetable oils — plus a protein-rich meal for livestock and, once the plant's natural toxin gossypol is removed, an emerging edible protein. A true by-product of the cotton fibre crop, it is a globally significant oilseed hiding in plain sight.