Corchorus depressus
(L.) Vicary in J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 16: 1160. 1847.Antichorus depressus L., Mant. Pl. 64. 1767. Corchorus antichorus Raeusch., Nomencl. Bot. ed
3, 158. 1797; Masters in Fl. Brit. India 1: 398. 1874. C. humilis Munro, Hort. Agrens. 35.
1844, non A. St. Hil. 1825; Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. t. 1073. 1846.
Guj.: Bahuphali, Bethibahuphali, Chickni; Hindi: Bamphuli; Mar.: Bahuphali; Sans.:
Bedari, Kshudra, Shunaka-chanchuka.
Herbs, perennial, woody, prostrate, branched; branches many from thick woody rootstock; young branches sparsely.hairy, older ones glabrous. Leaves 1 - 4 x 0.7 - 1.5 cm, narrowly to broadly elliptic, obtuse at base and apex, crenate-serrate, without basal filiform processes, glabrous except for sparsely hairy nerves, 3-nerved; petioles 1.5 - 2.5 cm long, minutely hairy; stipules ca 3 mm long, subulate. Flowers 2 - 4, in leaf-opposed, subsessile cymes, 6 - 8 mm across; pedicels ca 1 mm long; bracts ca 1.5 mm. long, Iinear-lanceolate. Sepals 3 - 4 mm long, linear-oblong, apiculate, reddish green. Petals as long as sepals, ovate-spathulate, obtuse, yellow. Stamens 8 - 10. Carpels 4; ovary cylindric, ca 1 mm long; style minute; stigma 4-lobed. Capsules 7 - 22 mm long, cylindric, often curved, glabrescent, 4-loculed, transversely septate between seeds, beaked; beak 1.5 - 2 mm long; seeds ca 1.5 mm long, rouguly triangular, obliquely truncate, black.
Fl. & Fr. Almost throughout the year.
Distrib. India: Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
W. Asia, Pakistan and Tropical Africa.
Herbs, perennial, woody, prostrate, branched; branches many from thick woody rootstock; young branches sparsely.hairy, older ones glabrous. Leaves 1 - 4 x 0.7 - 1.5 cm, narrowly to broadly elliptic, obtuse at base and apex, crenate-serrate, without basal filiform processes, glabrous except for sparsely hairy nerves, 3-nerved; petioles 1.5 - 2.5 cm long, minutely hairy; stipules ca 3 mm long, subulate. Flowers 2 - 4, in leaf-opposed, subsessile cymes, 6 - 8 mm across; pedicels ca 1 mm long; bracts ca 1.5 mm. long, Iinear-lanceolate. Sepals 3 - 4 mm long, linear-oblong, apiculate, reddish green. Petals as long as sepals, ovate-spathulate, obtuse, yellow. Stamens 8 - 10. Carpels 4; ovary cylindric, ca 1 mm long; style minute; stigma 4-lobed. Capsules 7 - 22 mm long, cylindric, often curved, glabrescent, 4-loculed, transversely septate between seeds, beaked; beak 1.5 - 2 mm long; seeds ca 1.5 mm long, rouguly triangular, obliquely truncate, black.
Fl. & Fr. Almost throughout the year.
Distrib. India: Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
W. Asia, Pakistan and Tropical Africa.
