_C. capsularis_ has a nearly spherical fruit, flattened at the top, and surrounded by longitudinal ridges. There is a good coloured illustration of it in the work of the younger Jacquin, _Eclogæ_, pl. 119. _C. olitorius_, on the contrary, has a long fruit, like the pod of a Crucifer. It is figured in the _Botanical Magazine_, fig. 2810, and in Lamarck, fig. 478. The species of the genus are distributed nearly equally in the warm regions of Asia, Africa, and America; consequently the origin of each cannot be guessed. It must be sought in floras and herbaria, with the help of historical and other data. _Corchorus capsularis_ is commonly cultivated in the Sunda Islands, in Ceylon, in the peninsula of Hindustan, in Bengal, in Southern China, in the Philippine Islands,[624] generally in Southern Asia. Forster does not mention it in his work on the plants in use among the inhabitants of the Pacific, whence it may be inferred that at the time of Cook’s voyages, a century ago, its cultivation had not spread in that direction. It may even be suspected from this fact that it does not date from a very remote epoch in the isles of the Indian Archipelago. Blume says that _Corchorus capsularis_ grows in the marshes of Java near Parang,[625] and I have two specimens from Java which are not given as cultivated.[626] Thwaites mentions it as “very common” in Ceylon.[627] On the continent of Asia, authors speak more of it as a plant cultivated in Bengal and China. Wight, who gives a good illustration of the plant, does not mention its native place. Edgeworth,[628] who has studied on the spot the flora of the district of Banda, says that it is found in “the fields.” In the _Flora of British India_, Masters, who drew up the article on the Tiliaceæ from the herbarium at Kew, says “in the hottest regions of India, cultivated in most tropical countries.”[629] I have a specimen from Bengal which is not given as cultivated. Loureiro says “wild, and cultivated in the province of Canton in China,”[630] which probably means wild in Cochin-China, and cultivated in Canton. In Japan the plant grows in cultivated soil.[631] In conclusion, I am not convinced that the species exists in a truly wild state north of Calcutta, although it may perhaps have spread from cultivation and have sown itself here and there. _C. capsularis_ has been introduced into various parts of tropical Africa and even of America, but it is only cultivated on a large scale for the production of jute thread in Southern Asia, and especially in Bengal.