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Corchorus olitorius
Malvaceae FAMILY

Corchorus olitorius

Corchorus olitorius

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual/Perennial
GrowthFast

Corchorus olitorius grows well in the lowland tropics, up to an elevation of around 700 metres[1]. The plant is reported to tolerate a mean annual precipitation between 400 and 4290mm, an annual average temperature range of 16.8 to 27.5°c[2]. Prefers a very fertile, humus-rich, well-drained alluvial soil, though it is extremely tolerant of soil conditions[3, 1]. It grows best in a hot humid climate[3]. Tolerates very wet conditions according to one report[4] whilst another says that it does not tolerate waterlogged soils[3]. Some cultivars are sensitive to excess water in the soil, especially when they are young[1]. Tolerates a pH in the range of 4.5 to 8.2[2]. There are two important cultivar-groups:- Olitorius Group. These are the forms mainly grown for their edible leaves. They are characterized by a plant height lower than 2 metres, often not more than 1 metre, and a more or less heavily branched plant habit. There are many named forms within this group[5]. Textilis Group. These are the forms mainly grown for their fibre. The plants are usually larger, up to 4 metres, perhaps even 5 metres tall, and only slightly branched at the top[5]. The first harvest, by cutting shoots 20 - 30cm long, may take place 4 - 6 weeks after transplanting, at a height of 10 - 20cm above the ground. This cutting stimulates the development of side shoots. Subsequently, every 2 - 3 weeks, a cutting may take place, with a total of 2 - 8 cuttings possible[5]. For a once-over harvest from a direct sown crop, the plants are uprooted or cut at ground level when they are 30 - 40cm tall, 3 - 5 weeks after emergence and before the development of fruits[5]. In Nigeria, a yield of 20 - 25kg from a 10 square metre bed (25 tonnes per hectare) may be expected from 3 - 9 cuttings of 'Amugbadu' during a period of 3 - 4 months. A yield of 38 tonnes per hectare was obtained from a well-fertilized field of cultivar 'Ewondo' in the Cameroon. Farmers however, usually obtain average yields of 5 - 15 tonnes[5]. The world average jute yield is about 1.9 tonnes of raw fibre per hectare, but yields of 5 tonnes have been obtained in Bangladesh with improved cultivars grown under optimal agronomic conditions[5]. Intercropped with Vigna, jute has yielded 3,270 kilos compared to 2290 kilos when monocropped[2].

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[6]. 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+olitorius>

Pollinators

Self, Insects

References

  1. [1]Vegetables in the Tropics — Tindall. H. D. · MacMillan, Oxford. · 1983 · ISBN 0-333-24268-8 ↩︎An excellent, in-depth look at the main vegetable crops that can be grown in the Tropics, plus many less well-known plants.
  2. [2]Handbook of Energy Crops — Duke. J. · - · 1983 · https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/dukeindex.html · ISBN - ↩︎Published only on the Internet, excellent information on a wide range of both temperate and tropical plants.
  3. [3]A Weavers Garden — Buchanan. R. · McGraw-Hill Contemporary · 1987 · ISBN 0934026289 ↩︎Covers all aspects of growing your own clothes, from fibre plants to dyes.
  4. [4]Plants for Man. — Schery. R. W. ↩︎Fairly readable but not very comprehensive. Deals with plants from around the world.
  5. [5]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  6. [6]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.
  7. [7]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.
  8. [8]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 ]).
  9. [9]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.
  10. [10]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.
  11. [11]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.
  12. [12]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.
  13. [13]Edible Leaves of the Tropics — Martin. F. W.; Ruberte. R. M. & Meitzner. L. S. · Echo. USA. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9653360-1-8 ↩︎A terse guide, giving reasonable detail on the more common leaf crops and brief information on a wide range of lesser known plants.
  14. [14]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.
  15. [15]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.
  16. [16]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.
  17. [17]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.
  18. [18]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.