Saluyot

Corchorus olitorius L.
RED JUTE

Chang shuo huang ma

Gen info
Corchorus is a genus plant of about 40-100 species in the family Malvaceae. Jute is confusingly applied to any
plant of the genus Corchorus and to its fiber. The chief sources of the fiber are the two species of Corchorus
plant: C olitorius and C capsularis. In the Philippines, three Corchorus species are recorded with medicinal
uses: Pasau, Pasau na bilog, and pasau na hapa. Another pasau, Pasau-na-hapai,Jussiaea erecta belongs to the
family Onagraceae.

Botany
Pasau-na-haba is an erect, branched, smooth or nearly smooth, half-woody shrub, 1 to 1.5 meters high. Leaves
are ovate-lanceolate, 5 to 12 centimeters long, pointed at the tip, blunt at the base, bearing a pair of taillike
projections, and toothed at the margins. Flowers are axillary, solitary, yellow, and about 6 millimeters long.
Capsules are elongated, cylindric, about 3 to 3.5 centimeters long, with 10 ribs, 3 to 6 valves, with transverse
partitions between seeds. Seeds are dark, bluish green, angular, about 2 millimeters long, and very bitter.

Distribution
- In and near settlements, on rice-paddy banks, in fallow paddies, etc., throughout the Philippines.
- Native of the Old World.
- Pantropic.

Constituents
Japanese study isolated an acidic polysaccharide, Moroheiya.
Leaf study has yielded anthocyanin.
Leaf extracts yielded alkaloids, terpenoids, tannins, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides. (19)
Seed extract yielded alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, glycosides, saponin, cardiac glycosides, anthraquinones,
steroids, and volatile oil. (20)
Six phenolic antioxidative compounds were identified, the most dominant was 5-caffeoylquinic acid.
100 g of leaves yield 43-58 calories, 80.4-84.1 g H2O,4.5-5.6 g protein, 0.3 g fat, 7.6-12.4 g total carbohydrate,
1.7-2.0 g fiber, 2.4 g ash, 266-366 mg Ca, 97-122 mg P, 7.2-7.7 mg Fe, 12 mg Na, 444 mg K, 6,410-7,850 g
beta-carotene, 0.13-0.15 mg thiamine, 0.26-0.53 mg riboflavin, 1.1-1.2 mg niacin, and 53-80 mg ascorbic
acid. (15)
Leaves yield a significant amount of mucilaginous polysaccharide. (see study below) (22)

Properties
Considered demulcent, diuretic, febrifuge, purgative, tonic.

Parts used
Whole plant, especially the. seeds and leaves.

SOURCE: http://www.stuartxchange.com/Pasau.html