TnJACE^E. 



T3 



stipules '2. Fruit 2-l(>-ci'lle<l, varying froui 1 cell by suppression to 10 

 by false septa. 

 Trees and shrubs, seldom herbs. No. of genera, 40. 



CORCHORUS, L. (Yellow Jute.) Calyx 5-parted, sepals valvate, petals 

 alternating with the sepals ; stamens two or three times as many as the 

 petals, nearly all fertile, or a few of the interior ones without anthers, 

 filaments free, anthers 2-valved, opening by longitudinal slits. Style 

 simple ; apex broadened, hollow, truncate, and toothed, or crenulate. 

 Ovary 2-.5-valved, cells frequently incomplete, the placenta fall- 

 ing short of the center, many-ovuled. Capsule short, subglobular, 

 or elongated, varying to ovate-oblong or subcylindrical, velvety, or 

 clothed with soft bristle-like processes 

 or hairs. Seeds numerous. Leaves sim- 

 ple or compound, alternate, serrate, stip- 

 ulate. Flowers solitary, or in small 

 terminal and bracteate cymes. 



1. C. capsularis, W. (Jute.) Stem 5 to 

 10 feet in height, branched. Leaves alter- 

 nate, acuminate, serrate, palmately com- 

 pound ; leaflets G, lanceolate, tapering to the 

 base. Flowers terminal and at the ends of 

 the branches, in loose compound racemes, 

 small, yellowish. Capsule globose, wrinkled, 

 .5-celled seeds, few in a cell. 



2. C. olitorius, W. (Jute.) Stem .5 to 6 

 feet in height, erect. Leaves alternate, ovate, 

 acuminate, serrate, tlie lower teeth terminat- 

 ing in thread-like processes. Flowers small, 

 yellow, on a peduncle ; sepals 5 ; petals 5. 

 Capsules subcylindrical, resembling the seed- 

 vessel of a cruciferous ])lant, 10-ribbed, .5- 

 celled, .5-valved. Seeds numerous. 



CoRCHORUS OLITORIUS (Jute). 



.3. C. siliquosa, L., wliose fruit resembles a sili(iue, is found in Florida; but 

 the first two species described above furnish the fiber known as jute. 



Geographi/. — Soutlicrn licit of the north temperate zone and the tropics. 



There are about forty species, all of wliicli are natives of tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries, 



Eti/mo/og)/. — CnrrlinrHH is said to be derived from the (ireek K^pv. the 

 pupil of the eye, and Kopiw, cleanse, alluding to the purgative jjroperties of 

 some of tlie species. (How it applies to the eye is not apparent.) Capsularis 

 alludes to tlie jioculiar form of the seed-vessel of this species, and olitorius 

 means a garden-plant. Jute is from Sanskrit (/Jat, the Indian name for the 

 plant, the meaning of which is obscure. 



Histori/. — The liome of the C. capsularis is Java and Ceylon, and undoubt- 

 edly other Asiatic islands. (\ olitorius is a native of western India, an(i has 

 spread by cultivation to Asia Minor, Africa, etc. It is certain that the Greeks 

 used this ])lant as a pot-herb, and by many otlier nations around the shores of 

 the Mediterranean this use of it was common. 



