4953.000 Corchorus L.

Description of the genus

Herbs or small shrubs, sometimes with annual stems from a woody rootstock, with simple or stellate hairs. Stipules lateral, usually setaceous or subacute. Leaves alternate, usually with a long bristle on either side near the base. Flowers in bracteate pedunculate cymes, ± opposite the leaves. Sepals 4-5, usually narrow. Petals yellow. Stamens 7 to many. Ovary 2-5-locular. Fruit (in ours) a cylindric, rarely narrowly ovoid (kirkii), capsule, loculicidally 2-5-valved.

Derivation of name: from the Greek: khorkhorus, referring to jute, the fibre made from plants of this genus.

Worldwide: 100 species in the tropics.

Zimbabwe: 12 taxa.

Corchorus asplenifolius

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
aestuans L.N,EDescription, Image
asplenifolius Burch.N,W,C,E,SDescription, Image
confusus WildW,C,E,SDescription
fascicularis Lam.NDescription, Image
kirkii N.E. Br.N,W,C,E,SDescription, Image
longipedunculatus Mast.N,W,E,SDescription, Image
olitorius L.N,W,E,SDescription, Image
pseudocapsularis Schweinf.NDescription
schimperi Cufod.N,W,C,EDescription, Image
tridens L.N,W,C,E,SDescription, Image
trilocularis L.N,W,C,E,SDescription, Image
velutinus Wild[NrEnd]SDescription

Other sources of information about Corchorus:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Corchorus
Flora of Caprivi: Corchorus
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Corchorus
Flora of Malawi: Corchorus
Flora of Mozambique: Corchorus
Flora of Zambia: Corchorus

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Corchorus
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Corchorus
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Corchorus
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Corchorus
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Corchorus
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Corchorus
JSTOR Plant Science: Corchorus
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Corchorus
Plants of the World Online: Corchorus
Tropicos: Corchorus
Wikipedia: Corchorus

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Genus page: Corchorus.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=931, retrieved 29 March 2024

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