The Herbarium
Part IV · Fruit & vegetable
Herb. No. 201
Okra
Abelmoschus esculentus
Malvaceae
A West African mallow whose young pods silk a stew — the Southern pot crop that hates the cold.
Young pods are kitchen food. Mature woody pods are for seed, not gumbo.
- Parts used
- Young pod
- Traditional notes
- Kitchen pod · Gumbo and bhindi · Traditional thickening green
- Grow · USDA 6b
- Tender annual. Heat is not optional. Direct in warm soil, or transplants that were not chilled. In work: May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
- Harvest
- Finger-length, every day. A knife; they tug the plant.
- Gloves if the variety is spiny.
- A cool June is a late crop. Wait.
Safety
Known okra allergy (rare)
Companions
Plant with Cayenne, Sweet basil.
Lore
The word okra is from Igbo ọ́kụ̀rụ̀. Enslaved West Africans brought the seed and the pot. Louisiana gumbo is that pot meeting French roux and Choctaw filé. India had bhindi on its own clock. A Victorian English visitor called it lady’s finger and still did not know what to do with the silk.
The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.