Corchorus crozophorifolius (Baill.) Burret
Corchorus crozophorifolius (Baill.) Burret is a much-branched, spreading to erect shrub growing to 1 m high with a floccose indumentum (covered with tufts of soft hair), usually ferruginous (rust coloured) but sometimes white in the northern part of its distribution. The ovate, dentate-serrate leaves with a pleated appearance, along with the floccose indumentum, make this a relatively easy species of Corchorus to identify in the field. The flowers are clearly in two whorls (calyx and corolla), the corolla being obvious with its five yellow petals, and each flower has a prominent array of 50–100 stamens. Flowering time is May–August or September.
Corchorus crozophorifolius is confined to the north-west of Western Australia, from Exmouth to south of Carnarvon and east to Wiluna, where it is recorded growing in Acacia shrubland and woodland communities on sandy soils on alluvial flats and along watercourses, and on skeletal soils derived from limestone or granite on rocky hills.
Photo: S. Dillon
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