ABSTRACT
Both Corchorus capsularis and C. olitorius are annual herbaceous plants. The origin of C. capsularis is probably in China where it occurs in the wild, while C. olitorius is believed to have originated in tropical Africa. The genus Corchorus belongs to the family Tiliaceae and includes about 40 species out of which C. capsularis and C. olitorius are the only two cultivated species of economic and commercial importance. The main distinguishing and indeed diagnostic feature between these two species of Corchorus is the fruit structure; for whereas the fruit of C. capsularis is a globose capsule with brown seeds, that of C. olitorius is a long, cylinderical capsule with dark greyish-blue pyramidal seeds. Both C. capsularis and C. olitori have hermaphrodite flowers which are either solitary or grouped into 2- or 3-flowered cymes and borne on the node opposite the leaves.
