White jute is an annual, erect shrub in the mallow family grown mainly for its fibre and as a leafy vegetable, reaching two or more metres tall. It is a warm-season crop that needs a long, hot, humid growing period.
Family
Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep soil consistently moist during the growing season, especially in dry spells.
Soil
Fertile, moist, well-drained loam; it thrives in river floodplain soils.
Temperature
25–35 °C; protect from frost, it is killed by cold
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Indian Subcontinent to C. & S. China
Climate
subtropical
About
Corchorus capsularis (also known as patsun), commonly known as white jute, is a shrub species in the family Malvaceae. It is one of the sources of jute fibre, considered to be of finer quality than fibre from Corchorus olitorius, the main source of jute. The leaves are used as a foodstuff and the leaves, unripe fruit and the roots are used in traditional medicine.
Uses
Fibre made from C. capsularis is whiter and is considered to be of a higher quality than that made from C. olitorius. The fibre is extracted from the cut stems by retting in water, removing the soft tissue, curing the fibre and drying it. It is used for making sacks, bags, carpets, curtains, fabrics and paper. C. olitorius and C. capsularis are the main sources of jute. The world production is concentrated in India and Bangladesh, where the crop grows well in the Ganges and Brahmaputra floodplains and delta region.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Corchorus capsularis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.