Corchorus fascicularis
Lam., Encycl. 2: 104. 1786; Masters in Fl. Brit. India 1:
398. 1874. C.
braehycarpus Guillemin et al., Fl. Seneg. Tent. 89. 1831.
Beng.: Binalita, jangli-pat; Guj.: Chunhkadi, Ubhibahuphali; Hindi: Bamkosta, Ketapat; Mar.: Kirankuri, Motibahuphali; Sans.: Bhirupatrika, Chanchupatra, Diaghapatri,
Kalabhi, Kshestra-sambhava, Sushaka.
Herbs, annual, suberect, 40 - 60 cm high, glabrous; stems woody with scaly bark. Leaves 1.5 - 8 x 0.5 - 2 cm, lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, obtuse at apex, serrate, basal most serrations not prolonged into filiform processes, glabrous to subglabrous, 3-nerved; petioles 3 - 10 mm long, hirsute; stipules ca 5 mm long, subulate. Flowers in 2 - 5(- 8)-flowered, leaf-opposed, shortly pedunculate cymes. Sepals 1.5 - 2.5 mm long, linear-oblong, apiculate. Petals as long as sepals, oblong to obovate. Stamens 5 - 10. Carpels 3; ovary oblong-ovoid to linear, hairy, 3-loculed; style short; stigma capitate. Capsules in fascicles of 2 - 5(- 8),1 - 1.5 cm long, more or less triangular, shortly stalked, pubescent, shortly beaked, 3-loculed; locules septate between seeds. Seeds 1 - 1.5 mm long, wedge-shaped, truncate at one end and obliquely produced at the other, black.
Fl. & Fr. Almost throughout the year.
Distrib. India: Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Sri Lanka, Africa and Australia.
Herbs, annual, suberect, 40 - 60 cm high, glabrous; stems woody with scaly bark. Leaves 1.5 - 8 x 0.5 - 2 cm, lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, obtuse at apex, serrate, basal most serrations not prolonged into filiform processes, glabrous to subglabrous, 3-nerved; petioles 3 - 10 mm long, hirsute; stipules ca 5 mm long, subulate. Flowers in 2 - 5(- 8)-flowered, leaf-opposed, shortly pedunculate cymes. Sepals 1.5 - 2.5 mm long, linear-oblong, apiculate. Petals as long as sepals, oblong to obovate. Stamens 5 - 10. Carpels 3; ovary oblong-ovoid to linear, hairy, 3-loculed; style short; stigma capitate. Capsules in fascicles of 2 - 5(- 8),1 - 1.5 cm long, more or less triangular, shortly stalked, pubescent, shortly beaked, 3-loculed; locules septate between seeds. Seeds 1 - 1.5 mm long, wedge-shaped, truncate at one end and obliquely produced at the other, black.
Fl. & Fr. Almost throughout the year.
Distrib. India: Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Sri Lanka, Africa and Australia.
