Corchorus
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
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About 40-100 species, including: |
Corchorus is a genus of about 40-100 species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. Different common names are used in different contexts, with Jute applying to the fibre produced from the plant, and Melokhia (alternatively spelled Molohiya, Mulukhiyah, Molehiya or Molocheiya) applied to the leaves used as a vegetable.
They are tall, usually annual herbs, reaching a height of 2-4 m, unbranched or with only a few side branches. The leaves are alternate, simple, lanceolate, 5-15 cm long, with an acuminate tip and a finely serrated or lobed margin. The flowers are small (2-3 cm diameter) and yellow, with five petals; the fruit is a many-seeded capsule.
Uses
See Jute for details about the fibre crop production.
Young Melokhia leaves are used as a green leafy vegetable used (mainly Corchorus olitorius) in Egypt and Cyprus and also (mainly Corchorus capsularis) in Japan and China. It has a somewhat "slimy" texture when blanched briefly.
External links
- Malvaceae.info page on Corchorus (http://www.malvaceae.info/Genera/Corchorus/Corchorus.html)
