Corchorus trilocularis
L., Mant. Pl. 77.
1767; Masters in Fl. Brit. India 1: 397.
1874. C. serratifolius DC., Prodr. 1: 504. 1824.
Guj.: Kadvichuchdi; Hindi: Kagli, Karaka, Tambakhu; Kan.: Tandassir; Mar.: Kadunchuch; Sans.: Dirghachanchu, Kaunti.
Herbs, annual, erect or suberect, much branched, 30 - 150 cm high, pubescent. Leaves 1.3 - 10 x 0.4 - 3.5 cm, narrowly oblong-lanceolate to broadly oblong-elliptic, obtuse at apex, crenate-serrate, basal most serrations prolonged into filiform processes or not, sparsely hairy on both surfaces, distinctly hairy along nerves, 3 - 5-nerved; petioles 4 - 12 mm long, pilose; stipules 4 - 5 mm long, setose. Flowers 1 - 3, in leaf-opposed, shortly pedunculate cymes, ca 1.2 cm across; pedicels ca 2.5 mm long, glabrous; bracts ca 3 mm long, linear-lanceolate, caudate. Sepals 4 - 5 mm long, linear-oblong, acuminate. Petals yellow, 5 - 6.5 mm long, somewhat pandurate, obtuse. Stamens 15 - 20. Carpels 3; ovary cylindric, hairy, 3-loculed; style short; stigmas 3, capitate. Capsules 2 - 7 cm long, ca 2.5 mm across, 3-angular, straight, sometimes curved, scabrous-tuberculate, 3-loculed, transversely septate between seeds; beak ca 2.5 mm long, undivided. Seeds 1 - 1.2 mm long, black.
Fl. & Fr. Almost throughout the year.
Distrib. India: Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Paleotropics.
Herbs, annual, erect or suberect, much branched, 30 - 150 cm high, pubescent. Leaves 1.3 - 10 x 0.4 - 3.5 cm, narrowly oblong-lanceolate to broadly oblong-elliptic, obtuse at apex, crenate-serrate, basal most serrations prolonged into filiform processes or not, sparsely hairy on both surfaces, distinctly hairy along nerves, 3 - 5-nerved; petioles 4 - 12 mm long, pilose; stipules 4 - 5 mm long, setose. Flowers 1 - 3, in leaf-opposed, shortly pedunculate cymes, ca 1.2 cm across; pedicels ca 2.5 mm long, glabrous; bracts ca 3 mm long, linear-lanceolate, caudate. Sepals 4 - 5 mm long, linear-oblong, acuminate. Petals yellow, 5 - 6.5 mm long, somewhat pandurate, obtuse. Stamens 15 - 20. Carpels 3; ovary cylindric, hairy, 3-loculed; style short; stigmas 3, capitate. Capsules 2 - 7 cm long, ca 2.5 mm across, 3-angular, straight, sometimes curved, scabrous-tuberculate, 3-loculed, transversely septate between seeds; beak ca 2.5 mm long, undivided. Seeds 1 - 1.2 mm long, black.
Fl. & Fr. Almost throughout the year.
Distrib. India: Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Paleotropics.
