Tall coarse annual of Old World tropics widely cultivated in southern United States and West Indies for its long mucilaginous green pods used as basis for soups and stews; sometimes placed in genus Hibiscus. Synonyms:Abelmoschus esculentus, gumbo, Hibiscus esculentus, lady's-finger, okra plant.
3.
Long mucilaginous green pods; may be simmered or sauteed but used especially in soups and stews. Synonym:gumbo.
...okra is made the famous gumbo soup, which ever calls to vision a colored aunty presiding over the mysteries of a Southern dinner. If Aunt Dinah, so well known to us from the pages of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," could have left her receipt ... — The Home Acre • E. P. Roe
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