612 Philippine Journal of Science 1919 
An erect, glabrous, branched, suffrutescent herb, 1 to 1.5 
meters high, the ovate-lanceolate leaves tailed at.the base; flowers 
small, yellow, axillary; capsules cylindric, 10-ribbed, 3 to 3.5 
centimeters long; a weed in damp places throughout the settled 
areas of the Philippines. 
Corchorus olitorius is an annual herb that grows wild in 
nearly all islands of the Philippines. It is indigenous to India, 
where together with a closely related species, Corchorus capsu- 
laris Linn., it is cultivated on a large scale to furnish most of the 
jute of commerce. The plant is found in all tropical countries; 
but it is only in India, where next to rice it is the most important 
agricultural product, that the fiber is extracted in commercial 
quantities. In the Philippines, particularly among the [locanos, 
it is better known as a vegetable than as a source of fiber. The 
leaves and the tender shoots are stewed with bagoong (salty, fer- 
mented small fish or shrimp), cooked with bamboo shoots, or 
roasted or baked with fish. Among the Tagalogs the leaves 
are sold in the market with the name “pasau.” In Sierra 
Leone, Nigeria, and Uganda parts of the plant are eaten as a 
vegetable. The plant is cultivated as a garden herb in France, 
and the tender shoots are used in salads. 
Corchorus olitorius was known to the ancients. Watt states :° 
* * * Tt is well known that Corchorus olitorius has for centuries 
been cultivated near Aleppo as a pot herb, hence, says Rauwolf, the 
name Olus judaicum which the French translated Mauve de Juif and the 
English rendered as Jew’s Mallow. 
In India the total area under jute caiitaton | in 1916 was 
2,702,700 acres, and the yearly exports ** of Indian jute during 
the past two decades have been valued at more than 100,000,000 
pesos. Of sacks alone more than 100,000,000 are exported an- 
nually, having a value of at least 14,000,000 pesos. 
In the Philippines the fiber has no commercial importance, 
but small quantities are extracted for the manufacture of rope. 
Such cordage as a rule does not reach the market, but is used 
locally. 
“= Watt, Geo., A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India. Govern- 
ment of India Central Printing Office, Calcutta 2 (1889) 542. 
* Agr. Journ. India III 13 (1918) 500. The export of raw jute and 
manufactures from India is given as follows: 
1915-16 1916-17 
£ £ 
Raw jute 10,428,024 10,858,736 
Jute manufactures 25,318,934 27,769,725 
