Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench

First published in Methodus: 617 (1794)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is SW. Uttarakhand to W. & Central India. It is an annual and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome. It is used as animal food, a poison and a medicine, has environmental uses and social uses and for fuel and food.

Descriptions

Malvaceae, A. W. Exell. Flora Zambesiaca 1:2. 1961

Morphology General Habit
Annual herb up to 2 m. tall; stems succulent, setulose.
Morphology Leaves
Leaf-lamina up to 25 × 25 cm., suborbicular in outline, palmatifid, -lobed or -sect, sparsely to densely setulose or setose-pilose on both surfaces especially on the nerves, margins serrate, base cuneate to cordate; petiole up to 30 cm. long; stipules up to 15 mm. long, filiform, densely pilose.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers up to 8 cm. in diam., yellow with purple centre; peduncle 1–4 cm. long, stout, thickened in fruit.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Epicalyx
Epicalyx of 10–12 bracts; bracts up to 25 × 2·5 mm., narrowly linear-triangular, caducous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx 3–4 cm. long, with 5 short linear teeth.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Petals up to 7–8 cm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Staminal tube 12–20 mm. long; free parts of filaments up to 0·5 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Style
Style projecting up to 1 mm. beyond the staminal tube.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Capsule up to 14 cm. long, ellipsoid to very narrowly ellipsoid, at first appressed-setose and pubescent, later glabrescent.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds 5 × 4 mm., depressed-globose, slightly humped, with concentric lines of minute stellate hairs or scales and sometimes pilose.
[FZ]

Malvaceae, Bernard Verdcourt & Geoffrey Mwachala. Pavonia, B Verdcourt; Kosteletzkya, OJ Blanchard Jr.; Gossypium, P Fryxell & B Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2009

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Capsule fusiform, 7–25 (?–30) cm long, 1.3–3 cm diameter, rounded or ± angular, sulcate, with scattered simple hairs or glabrous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds dark brown or grey, 5–15 per cell, depressed globose to reniform, 3–6 mm long, striped, with concentric lines of minute stellate hairs, minutely warty, glabrous or pilose
Figures
Fig 12, p 77
Ecology
Open grassland, seasonally flooded plains with Panicum etc.; also in flood plains within Brachystegia woodland; cultivated in Uganda and West Tanzania; near sea-level–900 m
Type
Type: ‘India’, Linnean Herb 873.31 (LINN, lecto.)
Morphology General Habit
Stout erect annual herb, 0.5–2.7 m tall.
Morphology Stem
Stems sometimes tinged red, often fistular, setulose with stiff simple hairs, becoming woody at base
Morphology Leaves
Leaves elliptic to round in outline, 5–25 × 5–30 cm, cordate at base, angular or 5–7-lobed, the lobes triangular, ovate, oblong or lanceolate, coarsely serrate to crenate, with scattered stiff simple hairs on both sides; petiole 5–35 cm long; stipules 5–15 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers solitary in the leaf axils; pedicel 0.5–1.5 cm, accrescent to 2.5(–5) cm long; epicalyx lobes 7–10(–12), linear to lanceolate, 0.5–18(–25) × 1–2.5 mm, falling when capsule dehisces; calyx 2–3(–4) cm long, acuminate in bud, rough with stiff simple hairs, with 5 short linear teeth
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla white or mostly yellow with dark purple centre; petals obovate, 3.5–4.5 (?–8) × 3–4 cm; ovary conical to ovoid, 1.2 cm long, 5(–9)-locular
Distribution
Range: Very widely cultivated throughout the tropics and not truly wild anywhere for certain, but almost certainly of tropical Asian origin and not from Africa as stated in several crop books. Naturalized, especially in Ufipa District Flora districts: U1 T1 T4
[FTEA]

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution
Cultivada en Colombia; Alt. 20 - 1500 m.; Amazonia, Andes, Islas Caribeñas, Pacífico.
Morphology General Habit
Hierba
[CPLC]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Kew Species Profiles

General Description

Okra is a cultigen (a plant that has been altered by humans through a process of selective breeding). The exact origin of okra is unknown, but it is thought to have come from Africa, where it has been grown as a crop for centuries. Evidence suggests it was grown in Egypt as long ago as 2,000 BC. Today it is widely cultivated for its edible green fruits, which are harvested when immature (after 3-5 days of development), and are infamous for their slimy mucilage.

Abelmoschus esculentus is also known by the synonym Hibiscus esculentus and the common name lady's fingers, thought to be a fanciful reference to the slender, finger-shaped fruits of some cultivars.

The Malvaceae plant family, of which okra is a member, contains many economically important plants. These include cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), cocoa (Theobroma cacao), ornamental Hibiscus species, the genus Ceiba (from which kapok fibre is derived), durian fruit (Durio zibethinus) and balsawood (Ochroma pyramidale).

Species Profile
Geography and distribution

Available evidence suggests that okra originated in Africa, where the vast majority of primitive forms and wild relatives are found. It is thought likely to have come from the Sahel region, south of the Sahara (from Mali eastwards to Ethiopia).

Many publications give India as the country of origin, but this is more likely to be a reflection of where it is currently used. There are no names for okra in the classical languages of the Indo-Persian area, suggesting that it probably did not originate there. Later it was introduced to the Americas during the slave trade.

Okra is widespread in cultivation in the tropics, subtropics and warmer temperate zones. It is particularly popular in Africa, India, the Philippines, Thailand, Brazil, Turkey, Spain and the southern USA. It is naturalised in some areas.

The related species West African okra ( Abelmoschus manihot ) is restricted to the humid and perhumid (wettest) climates of Africa.

Description

Overview: An annual, erect herb up to 5 m (but typically about 2 m) tall. Stems succulent with scattered, stiff hairs. The whole plant has an aromatic smell resembling cloves.

Leaves: Up to 50 cm wide and 35 cm long, deeply lobed, with toothed margins, hairy on both surfaces, especially on the nerves. Each leaf is borne on a petiole (leaf stalk) up to 50 cm long.

Flowers: Showy, up to 8 cm in diameter, usually yellow with a dark red, purple or mauve centre, borne on a stout flower stalk (peduncle) up to 4 cm long. Stamens (male parts) united into a white, hairless column up to 2.5 cm long. Stigmas (female parts) dark purple. Calyx (whorl of sepals) and epicalyx (whorl of bracts) both present.

Fruits: A capsule, 10-20 cm long, roughly circular in cross-section with a pointed end, usually 5-ribbed, borne at the leaf axils. Immature fruit can be purple-red, reddish-green, dark green, pale green or yellow. At maturity, fruits turn brown and split into segments.

Seeds: Each fruit has up to 100 spherical or ovoid seeds bearing minute warts in concentric rows.

Many cultivars are available, for example 'Clemson Spineless', 'Indiana', 'Emerald' (USA) and 'Pusa Sawani' (India).

Uses

Food and drink

Okra is widely used in African, Indian, Middle Eastern and Caribbean cuisine and is also popular in southern parts of the USA (where it is the key ingredient in gumbo).

Immature fruits are usually boiled, but also fried, steamed, grilled, battered or eaten raw. Fruits are preserved by pickling, or drying and grinding into powder. They are used to make soups, sauces, stews, curries and even salads. Okra is high in fibre and rich in vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin C.

The pods have a unique flavour and texture and release slimy mucilage on cooking, which can be used to thicken sauces and add smoothness to soups. Okra mucilage has also been used in confectionery and for clarifying sugar cane juice to make molasses in India. The slimy texture is not to everyone's taste and can be reduced by cooking in salted water.

Young leaves are sometimes used as a vegetable, in a similar manner to spinach, particularly in West Africa and Southeast Asia. Okra leaves are sometimes dried and ground into powder for storage. Flower buds and petals are sometimes eaten in times of food shortage.

Okra seeds are often used in place of dried peas, beans or lentils in rice dishes and soups. In Nigeria, seeds are prepared into a food known as dandawan betso . In India, okra seeds are eaten in curries and chutneys.

Roasted okra seeds are ground and used as a substitute for coffee in some areas. Considered by some to be one of the best coffee substitutes known, it was once widely used in Central America, Africa and Malaysia.

Traditional medicine

Leaves and immature fruit have long been used in the East in poultices and applied to relieve pain, moisturise skin, induce sweating, prevent scurvy and treat urinary disorders. In Congo-Brazzaville, a leaf decoction is given for heart pains and to promote delivery during childbirth. Okra root has been used to treat syphilis in Malaya.

Okra mucilage has been used as a plasma replacement and blood volume expander.To obtain the mucilage, slices of immature pods are placed in water, which is then boiled. The mucilage is an acidic polysaccharide composed of galacturonic acid, rhamnose and glucose and tends to break down when overheated.

Fibre

Okra bark yields silky fibre, which is easy to extract. It is white to yellow in colour and strong but rather coarse.

It can be spun into yarn, rope and sacking and has been used for fishing lines, game traps and hammocks in West Tropical Africa. It has also been used in paper and cardboard production.

Other uses

Okra leaves and seed-cake are sometimes used as cattle feed, and the leafy tops are grazed by stock and game.

Okra mucilage has been added as size to glaze paper in China.

Millennium Seed Bank: Seed storage

The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plant life worldwide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in our seed bank vault.

A collection of Abelmoschus esculentus seeds is held in Kew's Millennium Seed Bank based at Wakehurst in West Sussex.

This species at Kew

Dried and spirit-preserved specimens of Abelmoschus esculentus are held in Kew's Herbarium where they are available to researchers by appointment. The details of some of these specimens can be seen online in Kew's Herbarium Catalogue.

Specimens of the seeds and fruits of okra, as well as fibres obtained from it, and paper and rope made from it, are held in Kew's Economic Botany Collection in the Sir Joseph Banks Building, where they are available to researchers by appointment.

Kew's illustration collection includes a painting of okra by Victorian artist Marianne North. The title is Some Fruits and Vegetables used in Brazil , and notes included the following: 'In front the Ochro ( Hibiscus esculentus L.), the seed-vessels of which are used in thickening soups'.

Distribution
Ethiopia, Mali, Niger
Conservation
Widespread in cultivation.
Hazards

Irritating hairs are sometimes present on leaves and stems, and traces of alkaloid have been reported in leaves.

[KSP]

Bernal, R., G. Galeano, A. Rodríguez, H. Sarmiento y M. Gutiérrez. 2017. Nombres Comunes de las Plantas de Colombia. http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/nombrescomunes/

Vernacular
algalia, almizclillo, angelonia, argalia, candia, chimbombó, gicombo, gombo, guicombo, lagarto, malvisco, monito, morito, ocra, ocro, quimbombó
[UNAL]

Distribution
Biogeografic region: Amazonia, Andean, Caribbean, Pacific. Elevation range: 20–1500 m a.s.l. Cultivated in Colombia. Colombian departments: Antioquia, Cauca, Putumayo, San Andrés y Providencia.
Habit
Herb.
Ecology
Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, shrubland, wetlands (inland), artificial - terrestrial.
[UPFC]

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit
Stout annual herb, up to 2.5 m tall; young stems with short stiff simple hairs
Morphology Leaves
Leaf-blades suborbicular in outline, up to c. 25 x 25 cm, 5–7-lobed or parted, with short stiff simple hairs on both surfaces; petiole up to 30 cm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers in leaf axils
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Epicalyx
Epicalyx bracts 7–12, linear to lanceolate, up to 25 mm long, present at time of flowering but later falling off
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx acuminate in bud, 3–4 cm long, rough outside
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Petals yellow or white with dark purple base, 4–8 cm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Capsule narrowly ellipsoid, usually 8 cm or more long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds c. 5 mm long, depressed-globose, with concentric lines, sometimes pilose.
Distribution
In Somalia grown at least in N3, S2 and S3. Native of tropical Asia
Vernacular
Baamiya (Somali), okra.
[FSOM]

Malvaceae, Hutchinson and Dalziel. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1:2. 1958

Morphology General Habit
A cultivated, or subspontaneous herb
Morphology Leaves
Long-stalked, usually 5-lobed leaves
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers large, yellow, with purple or red centre.
[FWTA]

Uses

Use
Food, fibre, traditional medicine.
[KSP]

Use Animal Food
Used as animal food.
Use Environmental
Environmental uses.
Use Fuel
Used for fuels.
Use Gene Sources
Used as gene sources.
Use Food
Used for food.
Use Materials
Used as material.
Use Medicines
Medical uses.
Use Poisons
Poisons.
Use Social
Social uses.
[UPFC]

Use
Now widely cultivated throughout the tropics for its edible fruits and occasionally naturalized
[FSOM]

Common Names

English
Okra

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Colombian resources for Plants made Accessible

    • ColPlantA 2021. Published on the Internet at http://colplanta.org
    • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
  • Kew Living Collection Database

    • Common Names from Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com/
  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images
  • Kew Species Profiles

    • Kew Species Profiles
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0