
Okra supposedly originated in Ethiopia, the mountainous or plateau portion of Eritrea, and the eastern, higher part of Sudan.

The pods, when cut, exude a mucilaginous juice that is used to thicken stews. The pods are handpicked while just short of reaching maturity and eaten as a vegetable. It takes about 45-60 days to get ready-to-harvest fruits. Okra fruit contains numerous oval, smooth, striated, globular-reniform, 3–6 mm diameter, dark brown or dark grey, tuberculate seeds. Its flavor is somewhat like a cross between asparagus and eggplant. They grow rapidly into long (10-30 cm) and narrow (1-4 cm) pod with a tip that is either pointed like a beak or blunt. The pods are the edible portion, are harvested while still tender and immature.

Okra is normally yellowish green to green, but is sometimes purple or white. Okra plant bears elongated, conical cylindrical capsule, 5–35 cm long, with longitudinal ribs down its length, hispid covered with fine hairs. Okra is grown and eaten in many regions around the world and can add nutritional benefits to your diet, if used properly. The okra flowers are 4-8 cm diameter, with five white to yellow petals, often with a red or purple spot at the base of each petal and flower lasts only one day. Leaves are 10–20 cm long, alternate and broad, palmately lobed with 5–7 lobes. Its stem is robust, erect, and variable in branching and varying from 0.5 to 2.0 m in height. It is quite popular throughout the world because of easy cultivation, dependable yield and adaptability to varying moisture conditions.

It is tolerant to drought and water-logging.
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It is a short day plant that grows well in full sun and is rather cold tender. It thrives in warm tropical or subtropical climate and prefers well drained, rich light and heavy soils that include sandy loam, loam or clay soil. It is available year-round, with a peak season during the summer months. It is a tropical plant which grows best in warm environments. Okra is an annual, tropical, erect herb sized 1-2 m tall and is native to Ethiopia. Specialty Okra, Red Burgundy Okra, Silver Queen Okra, Star of David Okra, Alabama Red Okra, Cow Horn Okra, Hill Country Heirloom Red Okra, Burmese Okra, Jade Okra, Emerald Okra, Chinese okra, Purple Okra, Louisiana Short Okra are popular varieties of Okra that are grown throughout the world due to its high nutritive values and delightful taste. It’s grown and eaten in many regions around the world and can add nutritional benefits to your diet, if used properly. It is called Lady’s Finger in England, Gumbo in the United States of America, Guino-gombo in Spanish, Guibeiro in Portuguese and Bhindi in India. Other popular common names of okra are Bindi, Gobbo, Gombo, Lady’s Fingers, Ladysfinger Okra, Okro, quingombo, ochro, bamia, bamie, and quiabo.

The term okra was in use in English by the late 18th century. The term “okra” most commonly refers to the edible seedpods of the plant. Botanically, okra is a perennial flowering plant belongs to the Malvaceae (mallows) family it is also related to cotton, hibiscus and hollyhock and named scientifically as Abelmoschus esculentus. Okra is a nutritional powerhouse which has been grown for more than 2,000 years. This crop is suitable for cultivation as a garden crop as well as on large commercial farms. Okra (Lady’s Finger), Abelmoschus esculentus, is an economically important vegetable crop grown in tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world.
