CORCHORUS

Corchorus L., Sp. Pl. 1: 529. 1753; Gen. Pl. 5: 234. 1754; DC., in Prodr. 1: 504. 1824; Benth. & Hook. f., Gen. Pl. 1: 235. 1862; Masters in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 1: 396. 1875; Chakravarty, H. L., Bull. Bot. Soc. Bengal 15: 75-86. 1953; Hutch., Gen. Fl. Pl. 2: 482. 1967; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 12: 249; Nesom, Fl. North Amer. @ eFloras.org vol. 6; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 20; BSI- eFlora of India vol. 3.

Herbs, undershrubs or shrubs, covered with simple and stellate hairs. Leaves petiolate; leaf blade papery, basal veins usually 3, usually with linear processes (or appendages) at or near base, margin serrate; stipules filiform. Inflorescence axillary or leaf-opposed, pedunculate, 1-few flowered cymes. Flowers actinomorphic, bisexual, hypogynous, small, bracteate, subsessile. Sepals 5 or 4, free, valvate. Petals 5 or 4, mostly imbricate, yellow. Stamens 5-many or rarely twice as many as sepals, free; anthers bithecous, dehiscing longitudinally. Carpels 2-5, syncarpous, ovary superior, 2-5-locular, ovules many in each loculus; style short; stigma simple, undulate or cyanate papillate. Capsules long to short and subglobose, loculicidally 2-5-valved, transversely septate between seeds or aseptate. Seeds pendulous or horizontal, endospermous, often with an incurved embryo; cotyledons foliaceous.

77 species

Corchorus aestuans

Corchorus aestuans L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10.2: 1079. 1759; Nair, Fl. Bashahr Himal. 46. 1977; Sharma & Kachroo, Fl. Jammu (Illustr.) 2: t. 42. 1983; Dhaliwal & Sharma, Fl. Kullu Dist. 171. 1999; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 176. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 199. 2006; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 12; Fl. North Amer. @ eFloras.org vol. 6; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 20; BSI- eFlora of India vol. 3; C. acutangulus Lam., Encycl. 2: 104. 1786; Masters in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 1: 398. 1874; Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 65. 1921 (Reprint 1980).

Herbs, annual, much branched, suberect or spreading, 10-60 cm high; stem pilose, often purple. Leaves alternate, stipulate, petiolate; stipules 5-10 mm long, setaceous, sparsely hairy; petioles 0.5-4 cm long, pilose, grooved, purple; leaf blade 2-10 cm x 1-5 cm, lanceolate to ovate, more or less rounded at base, acute at apex, serrate, sometimes basal most serrations on one side or both prolonged into filiform processes (or appendages), glabrous above, pilose with conspicuously raised nerves beneath, 3-5-nerved, nerves hairy to almost glabrous. Flowers 2-3 in leaf opposed, shortly paniculate cymes; flowers actinomorphic, bisexual, hypogynous, ca. 1 cm across; pedicels ca. 2 mm long, jointed near apex; bracts 4-6 mm long, filiform, purple. Sepals 5, 3-4 mm long, linear-oblong, hooded and apiculate, purple dotted inside, green outside, glabrous. Petals 5, free, imbricate, 3-5 mm long, obovate, obtuse with a glandular claw, hairy at base, yellow. Stamens 12-30, free, anthers bithecous, dehiscence longitudinal. Carpels 3, ovary ca. 2 mm long, cylindric, pubescent, 3-locular; style trifid, ca. 1.5 mm long; stigma 2-lobed. Capsules solitary or paired, 10-30 mm x 4-6 mm, 6-angled, 3 of the angles winged, truncate with 3, bifid, 3-7 mm long, diverging, glabrous peaks at top, 3-locular, locules transversely septate or aseptate. Seeds numerous at both ends, dark brown.

Flowering and Fruiting: July to September
Common Names: East Indian Mallow, Jute, West African Mallow; Conch, Hade- Ka- Khet (Hindi)