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Useful Tropical Plants

Corchorus aestuans

L.

Malvaceae

+ Synonyms

Corchorus acutangulus Lam.

Corchorus aesticans Hill

Corchorus brevicaulis Hosok.

Corchorus campestris Macfad.

Corchorus furcatus G.Don

Corchorus fuscus Roxb.

Corchorus oppositiflorus Hassk.

Common Name:

Corchorus aestuans
Flowers and leaves
Photograph by: J.M.Garg
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0
Corchorus aestuans Corchorus aestuans Corchorus aestuans

General Information

Corchorus aestuans is an annual plant with erect, sparingly branched stems, growing about 40cm tall[
305
Title
Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.hear.org/pier/scientificnames/index.html
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
A very good website detailing weed species that have been introduced into the Pacific Islands.
].
The plant yields a fibre and edible leaves. It is harvested from the wild for local use and is sometimes also cultivated as a fibre plant in tropical W Africa, sometimes also in SE Asia[
317
Title
Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

331
Title
Flora of Guatemala
Publication
 
Author
Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark
Website
http://www.archive.org/
Publisher
 
Year
1946 - 1976
ISBN
 
Description
A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/

Range

S. America - Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana; Caribbean - Trinidad to the Bahamas; C. America - Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico.

Habitat

A weed of waste ground from sea level to 2,000 metres[
305
Title
Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.hear.org/pier/scientificnames/index.html
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
A very good website detailing weed species that have been introduced into the Pacific Islands.
,
372
Title
Flowers of India
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.flowersofindia.net/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
A wed site of native Indian plants, plus cultivated and naturalized species. It has good quality photos and terse details on more than 3,000 species and cultivars.
]. Grassy savannah, fallow land; sandy riverbeds; small alluvial depressions; on heavy alluvial soils; in clay near granitic outcrops at elevations up to 1,350 metres in Somalia[
328
Title
African Flowering Plants Database
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php
Publisher
Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques.
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
].

Properties

Weed PotentialYes
Edibility Rating *  *
Other Uses Rating *  *
HabitAnnual
Height0.40 m
Cultivation StatusCultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details



Originally native to the Americas, the plant has spread throughout the tropics and has become an invasive weed in some areas[
305
Title
Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.hear.org/pier/scientificnames/index.html
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
A very good website detailing weed species that have been introduced into the Pacific Islands.
].

Edible Uses

Leaves - raw or cooked[
301
Title
Cornucopia II
Publication
 
Author
Facciola. S.
Publisher
Kampong Publications, California.
Year
1998
ISBN
0-9628087-2-5
Description
The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
]. They can be eaten in salads, used as a vegetable or potherb, or used for vegetable bouillon[
301
Title
Cornucopia II
Publication
 
Author
Facciola. S.
Publisher
Kampong Publications, California.
Year
1998
ISBN
0-9628087-2-5
Description
The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
,
317
Title
Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

A good quality fibre is obtained from the bark - it is used for making string[
942
Title
Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany) No. 16
Publication
 
Author
 
Publisher
The Forest Herbarium; Bangkok.
Year
1986
ISBN
0495-3843
Description
A botanical journal, publishing papers on taxonomy (especially vascular plants), nomenclature, phylogeny, systematics, plant geography, and floristics; also morphology, palynology, cytotaxonomy, chemotaxonomy, anatomy and other relevant disciplines.
]. One of the jute fibre plants[
317
Title
Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
].

Propagation

Seed -
Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2024-12-12. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Corchorus+aestuans>

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