Corchorus olitorius

Sunday special : The Golden Fibre of Bengal:

What you will find in the net :-

History :-

1. Indians, especially Bengalis, used ropes and twines made of white jute from ancient times for household and other uses. – http://en.wikipedia.White_jute.Corchoruscapsularis
2. During Mughal era in India, jute clothes were worn by the poor villagers. Earlier in West Bengal, ropes and twines used for different domestic household applications are made of white jute. Apart from textile application, Chinese paper manufacturers used jute plants to abstract paper. – http://www.jute-industry.com/history-of-jute.html
3. In 1793, the Bengal Board of Trade sent a Jute fibre sample to the United Kingdom strictly for experimentation related to mechanical processing. The breakthrough came in 1833, when Jute fibre was spun mechanically in Dundee, Scotland. – https://cambridgeforecast.jute-bengal-dundee/
4. Margaret Donnelly, a jute mill landowner in Dundee in the 1800s, set up the first jute mills in Bengal.– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jute#History
5. The first Indian Jute mill was constructed in 1855 at Calcutta (Currently spelled Kolkata), which was the capital of the Bengal Province in British India. – https://cambridgeforecast.jute-bengal-dundee/
6. Mr. George Acland had brought jute spinning machinery from Dundee to India, the first power driven weaving factory was established at Rishra, on the River Hooghly near Calcutta in year 1855. – http://www.jute-industry.com/history-of-jute.html
7. By the year 1869, five mills were established with around 950 looms. The growth was so fast that, by the year 1910, 38 companies were operating around 30,685 looms, rendering more than a billion yards of cloth and over 450 million bags. – http://www.jute-industry.com/history-of-jute.html
8. By the early 1900s the Calcutta Jute industry surpassed the European Jute industry. – https://cambridgeforecast.jute-bengal-dundee/
9. In India 4000,000 families are involved in the cultivation of raw jute. There are 76 jute mills in India and nearly 1,37,679(Oct.2001) people are employed in these mills. Several thousand other people are engaged in several jute related diversified goods. – http://www.worldjute.com/about_jute/abj_intro.html

Botanical Aspect :-

1. Jute (Corchorus capsularis & Corchorus olitorius), Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) and Roselle (H. sabdariffa var. altissima) are vegetable bast fibre plants next to cotton in importance. In the trade there are usually two names of jute, White and Tossa. Corchorus capsularis is called White Jute and Corchorus olitorius is called Tossa Jute. In India & Bangladesh Roselle is usually called Mesta. Jute fibres are finer and stronger than Mesta and are, therefore, better in quality. – http://www.jute.org/plant.htm
2. Kenaf known as Mesta or Ambari (species Hibiscus Cannabinus) is also considered as a variety of Jute. It is cultivated in Indian sub-continent, Thailand, China and Africa. The two main types of jute, white jute (Corchorus capsularis)and dark jute or tossa (Corchorus olitorius) are grown in India, Bangladesh, Thailand, China, south Asian countries and Brazil. – http://www.worldjute.com/about_jute/abj_intro.html 

What you may not find in the net :-

1. PATTAVASTRA, main fabrics of Ancient India was produced from Jute fibres – http://nopr.niscair.res.in/IJTK%207(1)20204-207.pdf

1. Leaves of Jute plant is used as SHAAK (SHAG) or leafy vegetable and, though not delicious, you can try it for a change in taste buds.
2. Jute fibres are used to make Puja Pandals and idols
3. Fibres were also used to make dolls
4. Dry stems are called PAAT-KAATHI or PANKAATHI in Bengali, is used as fuel. It is essential to grow PAAN or Betel Leaf (Piper betle L.). A room, which is called PAAN BORUJ, is erected by covering a rectangle land with PANKAATHI fence. (forget whatever wiki says – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betel#Cultivation)
5. Dry stems are also essential to produce fireworks – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_(firework) you burn in DIWALI
6. When i was a kid i learned my first smoking lesson by lighting a small piece of dry Jute stem, …so did my friends!

Corchorus olitorius Linn. from Hooghly:

Flora of Panipat: corchorus olitorius from Khukhrana Panipat: Attachments (11)
Corchorus olitorius from Khukhrana Panipat (220mts) wild on roadside are about 4 feet high

Or anyway it can be Corchorus trilocularis
Attaching a image of fruit
Pls validate

Here are some of mine.
Flowers and fruits.
They are growing wild in a nearby galli in Mumbai

Malvaceae Fortnight :: Corchorus sp? ::Nagpur :: PKAJUL107:: : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (1)
Corchorus sp? ::Nagpur.

Corchorus species in eFloraofindia (with details/ keys from published papers/ regional floras/ FRLHT/ FOI/ Biotik/ efloras/ books etc., where ever available on net)

Corchorus olitorius

Flowers from SGNP, Mumbai : Attachments (5). 8 posts by 6 authors.
flowers photographed in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai:-
1050161 & 1050161-1 : Identity please?

Grewia nervosa [G.microcos].

The second one is Corchorus olitorius or Banpat

Here is a link for details of Corchorus olitorius or Banpat: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/Corchorus_olitorius.html

1050161 & 1050161-1 : Chorchorus olitorius (the capsule seems to be cylindrical) 

efloraofindia:”For Id 07102011MR2’’ wild yellow flower Pune:
Request for identification
Date/Time-Oct 2011
Location- Place, Altitude, GPS-Pune
Habitat- Garden/ Urban/ Wild/ Type-Wild
Plant Habit- Tree/ Shrub/ Climber/ Herb- Herb
Height/Length- 1.5 feet approx
Leaves Type/ Shape/ Size- green 6-8cms long green
Flowers Size/ Colour/ Calyx/ Bracts- lemon yellow 5 petals. calyx 5 thin sepals in between the petals
Fruits Type/ Shape/ Size Seeds-Not seen
Other Information This was the only plant of this type of flower amongst other wild Sida varieties and Malvestrum plants

I forgot to add the leaves were rough to touch

3rd image does show one fruit on extreme left. Corchorus olitorius. One trick I pull on this genus ……fruit is deciding factor ……. trilocularis, tridens, capsularis….. derived from fruit character. Leaf is unreliable.
Corchorus urticifolia is only species to be recognised by leaf, yet to see this species.

Thanks, …, With increased expertise, it is possible to arrive at id even without fruits.

I agreed with you …, for olitorius, because the capsule has more than 3 ribs,

Mumbai, MH :: Corchorus olitorius :: ARK2020-021 : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (4)
Saw Corchorus olitorius in a marshy area in Charkop, Mumbai, MH in October 2019.

Yes, appears to be Corchorus olitorius L.  as per comparative images at Corchorus