Corchorus olitorius L., Malvaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: chang shuo huang ma

English: Jew's mallow, jute, Nalta jute, tossa jute

Fijian: melokhia

French: corète potagère

Japanese: Taiwan tsunaso

Spanish: yute

Habit:  herb

Description: 

Genus: "Herbs or shrubs, often annuals, the stipules lanceolate-filiform; leaves alternate, the blades herbaceous, crenate-serrate; inflorescences axillary or leaf-opposed, cymose or fasciculate, with 1-6 flowers; flowers perfect, 4- or 5-merous; sepals free, oblong-lanceolate, mucronate, subcucullate, essentially glabrous; petals about as long as sepals, spathulate, short-clawed, yellow; stamens (5-) numerous, glabrous, the filaments filiform, the anthers dorsifixed, laterally dehiscent; ovary (2-) 3-6-locular, pilose, the ovules numerous in each locule, the style short, terete, glabrous, the stigma lobed, fimbriate; fruit a loculicidally dehiscent 3-6-valved capsule, erect, linear to subglobose, sometimes with transverse partitions, the seeds numerous, exalate, angular" (Smith, 1981; p. 367).

Species: "A herbaceous annual, glabrous except on petioles; taproot; stems 30 to 100 cm and much-branched when growing as a weed or vegetable culture, when grown for fiber stems straight, slender to 4 m, there are many types; leaves alternate, light green; stipules 2, linear, up to 1 cm long, deciduous, petiole to 2 cm long; lamina lanceolate 5 to 12 by 2 to 5 cm, serrate, 2 lower teeth prolonged into fine, pointed auricles, tips acuminate; flowers solitary or in few flowered cymes, opposite the leaves, sepals usually 5, free, narrow, as long or shorter than petals; petals usually 5, yellow, 4 to 5 mm long, short corona separates petals from insertion of stamens; stamens 10 to many, free, filaments short, anthers small, bilobed, style short, stigma flat, ovary superior, 5-locular with numerous ovules; fruit a long, cylindrical, 10-riged, beaked capsule, glabrous, 5 to 10 cm long, 0.5 to 0.8 cm in diameter, 5 to 6 chambers formed by transverse septa, 25 to 40 seeds per chamber with 140 to 200 in each fruit; seed pyramidal, 1 to 2 mm long, color varying with variety from grayish-blue or green to brownish-black. Wild types have blacks seeds" (Holm et al., 1997; p. 238).

"A subligneous herb 0.3-2 m high; yellow petals 6-8 mm long" (Smith, 1981; p. 367).

Habitat/ecology:  In Fiji, "found near sea level as a naturalized weed along roadsides, in waste places, and in cultivated fields" (Smith, 1981; p. 367).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Asia and Africa, now pantropical in cultivation and as a weed (Smith, 1981; p. 367).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1981) (p. 367) Vouchers cited: Greenwood 251, DA 11763, DA 17353, DA 10715
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced cultivated	Imada, Clyde T./Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. (2011) (p. Voucher specimens) Vouchers cited: Flynn 1899 (BISH 507822), Home 435 (BISH 571979)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced cultivated	Imada, Clyde T./Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. (2011) (p. Voucher specimen) Voucher cited: Imada 98-31 (BISH 662297)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced cultivated	Imada, Clyde T./Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. (2011) (p. Voucher specimens) Voucher cited: Louis s.n. (BISH 497316)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (p. 64)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands		Merrill, Elmer D. (1923) (pp. 23-24) In and near settlements, on rice-paddy banks, fallow paddies, etc.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Northern Territory		Holm, Leroy/Doll, Jerry/Holm, Eric/Pancho, Jaun/Herberger, James (1997) (p. 236)
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland		Holm, Leroy/Doll, Jerry/Holm, Eric/Pancho, Jaun/Herberger, James (1997) (p. 236)
Cambodia Cambodia	Cambodia (Kingdom of)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 99)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	introduced invasive cultivated	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) Cultivated, weed of disturbed areas. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan.
China China	China (People's Republic of)		Holm, Leroy/Doll, Jerry/Holm, Eric/Pancho, Jaun/Herberger, James (1997) (p. 236)
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)		Holm, Leroy/Doll, Jerry/Holm, Eric/Pancho, Jaun/Herberger, James (1997) (p. 236)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (p. 64)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)		Holm, Leroy/Doll, Jerry/Holm, Eric/Pancho, Jaun/Herberger, James (1997) (p. 242)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 186)
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)		Holm, Leroy/Doll, Jerry/Holm, Eric/Pancho, Jaun/Herberger, James (1997) (p. 236)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island		Holm, Leroy/Doll, Jerry/Holm, Eric/Pancho, Jaun/Herberger, James (1997) (p. 242)
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (p. 64)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Corchorus olitorius is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Corchorus olitorius as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Corchorus olitorius may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Holm, Leroy/Doll, Jerry/Holm, Eric/Pancho, Jaun/Herberger, James. 1997. World weeds: natural histories and distribution. John Wiley & Sons. 1129 pp.

Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 391 pp.

Imada, Clyde T./Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. 2011. Annotated Checklist of Cultivated Plants of Hawai‘i (online searchable database).

Merrill, Elmer D. 1923. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 3 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 628 pp.

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Smith, Albert C. 1981. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 2. 810 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Waterhouse, D. F. 1993. The major arthropod pests and weeds of agriculture in Southeast Asia. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra. 141 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).