) Moench OKRA
Okra is usually cultivated for its edible fruit and is nowhere naturalized. It
is pantropic in cultivation.
This is a coarse, erect, branched, more or less hairy, annual herb 0.6 to
1.5 meters in height. The leaves are orbicular or orbicular-ovate and 25
centimeters long or less; the base is heart-shaped and the margins are 3- or 5-
lobed. The petioles are equal to the blade in length, or longer. The flowers are
axillary and solitary. The calyx is hairy, and about 3 centimeters long. The
corolla is large, yellow, and deep purple at the base, inside. The fruit is an
elongated capsule which tapers gradually to a rather blunt point, is 10 to 25
centimeters in length and 1.5 to 3 centimeters in breadth, and contains rows of
rounded, kidney-shaped seeds.
Okra is grown for its fruit which when immature, is succulent and edible. It
is eaten in various ways and is prized as an ingredient of soups and stews. When
cooked it is very mucilaginous. Analyses of the unripe capsules show that they
have the general characteristics of a succulent vegetable, and are a fair source
of iron and a good source of calcium.
Wehmer records that the fruit contains abundant pectin; mucilage; starch;
some fat, 4 percent; water 80.7 percent; and ash, 1.41 percent. Popp analyzed
the seeds and found nitrogen, 2.4 to 2.5 percent; their ash finding K2O39 percent;
MgO 12 percent, CaO 7.8 percent and P2O5 24.7 percent. Jamieson and
Baugham analyzed the seeds of okra; their results are as follows: palmitic acid,
27.23 percent; stearic acid, 2.75 percent; arachidic acid, 0.05 percent; oleic acid,
43.74 percent; linolic acid, 26.62 percent; Unsaponifiable matter, 0.37 percent.
Read reports that the roots contain gum, 16 percent; and the seeds, vitamin C.
Burkill and Haniff report that an infusion of the roots is used for syphilis.
Drury and Dey state that externally the leaves form a useful, emollient
poultice. Dymock, Warden, and Hooper recommend a mucilage prepared from
the roots and leaves in gonorrhea.
The seeds are used as a substitute for coffee. They are rubbed to a paste
with milk and used to cure itches. An infusion of toasted seeds has sudorific
properties. The aromatic seeds are regarded by the Hindus as cooling, tonic, and
carminative. The seeds are considered antispasmodic in Annam. In the Antilles,
Guiana, the seeds are regarded as stimulant, cordial, and antispasmodic.