Gossypioides kirkii and Kokia drynarioides genome sequencing

Kokia (Malvaceae) is a small genus of Hawaiian endemics comprising four species that were once widespread components of Hawaiian forests yet now are either endangered (three species) or recently extinct (K. lanceolata Lewton) (Bates 1990; Morden and Yorkston 2017; Sherwood and Morden 2014). Few individuals remain of the two extant species, K. kauaiensis (Rock) Degener & Duvel and K. drynarioides (Seem.) Lewton, the latter being nearly extinct in the wild, while the third endangered species, K. cookei Degener, exists only as a maintained graft derived from a single individual (Sherwood and Morden 2014; US Fish and Wildlife Service 2012). We present a draft assembly of Kokia drynarioides using Illumina short reads to be used as an evolutionary outgroup in the cotton tribe (Gossypieae).