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Corchorus capsularis
Malvaceae FAMILY

Corchorus capsularis

Corchorus capsularis

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual/Perennial
GrowthFast

Corchorus capsularis is a plant of the moist tropics, though it can also be cultivated in the subtropics and warmer temperate areas. In the tropics it is found at elevations up to 2,000 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 - 37°c, but can tolerate 13 - 45°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,500 - 3,000mm, but tolerates 900 - 3,600mm[1]. Prefers a sunny position[1]. Prefers a very fertile soil and a hot humid climate[2]. Young plants are sensitive to waterlogging, but more mature plants can tolerate very wet conditions, even inundation of the soil[3, 1]. Prefers a pH in the range 6.5 - 7, tolerating 5 - 8.6[1]. Grown as an annual, the stems can be harvested for fibre 80-150 days after sowing, depending on variety[1]. Yields may be about 34 tonnes/ha of green plants giving 2 tonnes/ha of dry retted fibre[1]. The plant is often grown on areas that are inundated every year and enriched by deposits418]. A short-day plant but longer days prolong the vegetative phase and it is therefore normally sown when the day-length exceeds 12.5 hours[1].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in late spring, after the last expected frosts[4]. In areas with hot summers it should be possible to sow the seed in situ in mid spring. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Corchorus+capsularis>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  2. [2]A Weavers Garden — Buchanan. R. · McGraw-Hill Contemporary · 1987 · ISBN 0934026289 ↩︎Covers all aspects of growing your own clothes, from fibre plants to dyes.
  3. [3]Plants for Man. — Schery. R. W. ↩︎Fairly readable but not very comprehensive. Deals with plants from around the world.
  4. [4]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  5. [5]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  6. [6]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  7. [7]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  8. [8]The Vegetable Garden. — Vilmorin. A. · Ten Speed Press · ISBN 0-89815-041-8 ↩︎A reprint of a nineteenth century classic, giving details of vegetable varieties. Not really that informative though.
  9. [9]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  10. [10]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  11. [11]Plants and People of Nepal — Manandhar. N. P. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 2002 · ISBN 0-88192-527-6 ↩︎Excellent book, covering over 1,500 species of useful plants from Nepal together with information on the geography and peoples of Nepal. Good descriptions of the plants with terse notes on their uses.
  12. [12]Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). — Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. · Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. · 1986 · ISBN - ↩︎Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.
  13. [13]Flora of Pakistan — http://www.efloras.org ↩︎As of 2006, there is not much information on habitats available, but it is being developed and promises to be an excellent resource.
  14. [14]Economic Botany. — Hill. A. F. · The Maple Press · 1952 · ISBN - ↩︎Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some detail about the plants it does cover.
  15. [15]The Plant Wealth of Iraq. — Chakravarty. H. L. ↩︎It is surprising how many of these plants can be grown in Britain. A very readable book on the useful plants of Iraq.
  16. [16]Plant Fibres for Papermaking. — Bell. L. A. · Liliaceae Press · 1988 · ISBN - ↩︎A good practical section on how to make paper on a small scale plus details of about 75 species (quite a few of them tropical) that can be used.
  17. [17]Forest Flora of Chakrata, Dehra Dun and Saharanpur. — Gupta. B. L. · Forest Research Institute Press · 1945 · ISBN - ↩︎A good flora for the middle Himalayan forests, sparsly illustrated. Not really for the casual reader.