Corchorus olitorius is a robust, erect, annual herb or short-lived perennial, up to 2 m tall in the wild and it can grow to 4 m tall when planted for commercial use. It is fairly well-branched and has a taproot that leads to a sturdy, hairless stem, which is green with a faint, reddish brown hue, and sometimes turns a little woody at ground level. The leaves are ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 60 to 100 mm long and 20 to 40 mm wide. The plant bears yellow flowers that are solitary or in 2-flowered cymes, at the tip of a short stem, opposite the leaf. The fruits are elongated, straight or curved, dehiscent and divided into transverse sections through 5 valves. The fruit measures 20 to 80 mm in length and colours vary from greyish-blue to green. Every seed chamber contains many seeds.