Corchorus trilocularis (Retz.) E. Walker, Malvaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: san shi huang ma

English: native jute, three locule corchorus, wild jute

Habit:  herb

Description: 

Genus: "Flowers in leaf-opposed,  one- to several-flowered cymes, 5-merous, perfect; sepals free, oblong-lanceolate, widened towards apex, more or less cucullate at apex, mucronate (mucro erect), (nearly) glabrous; petals more or less as long as calyx, spathulate, with sort, ciliate claw, otherwise glabrous, yellow; bynandrophore present or not, (in Java) cup-shaped, crenate along the margins; stamens numerous, all fertile, glabrous; filaments filiform; anthers dorsifixed, more or less oval, laterally dehiscent by length slits; ovary (2-) 3-6-celled, pubescent; cells many-ovuled; style thickish, terete, glabrous; stigma cup-shaped, fimbriate, capsule erect, globose or linear, loculicidally 3-6-valved; cells many-seeded; seeds exalate, angular, separated by septa or ridges.  Leaves spirally arranged or more or less distichous, herbaceous, serrate; one or two lowest teeth often enlarged, subulate; stipules present.  Herbs or shrubs." 

Species:  "Ovary oblong-linear; fruit much longer than broad; seeds 1-2 mm through.  Leaves with rounded-obtuse base; petiole pubescent (especially) above, otherwise (nearly) glabrous. Fruit erostrate or very obscurely and shortly beaked, wingless, finely warty, at first each wart provided with short, rigid, erecto-patent, finally caducous stellate hair, 3 (-4)-celled, shallowly longitudinally grooved, 2 3/4 - 7 cm long; seeds separated by dissepiments; sepals more or less 1 cm long; petals 7-8 mm; stamens 5-6 mm; style 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 mm.  Branchlets with band of hairs; leaves ovate-oblong, obtuse, glabrous above, sparsely pubescent on the nerves beneath, 2-7 1/2 cm by 3/4 - 3 1/2 cm; petiole 1/2 - 2 cm  Erect, little-branched."  (Backer and Bakhuizen van den Brink, 1963; p. 390).

Habitat/ecology:  In New Caledonia, "mauvaise herbe peu commune" (MacKee, 1994; p. 135). In Java, in waste fields, arable lands grown with a second crop, grassland (Backer and Bakhuizen van den Brink, 1963; p. 390).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Africa, Middle East, South Asia, exact native range obscure (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	Tassin, Jacques (2005)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 135) Vouchers cited: Blanchon 271 (NOU), MacKee 11930, MacKee 24792, Guinaudeau in MacKee 30104, Cherrier in MacKee 40315

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	introduced invasive	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013) Moist shady places, weed of cultivated fields. N.W. Yunnan.
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013) Java Naturalized

Control:  If you know of control methods for Corchorus trilocularis, please let us know.