Abelmoschus esculentus (L - the University of Maine at Fort Kent

Kermath, Bennett and Pulsipher - Food Plants in the Americs
Food Plants in the Americas A-Z
Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench [syn. Hibiscus esculentus L.]
FAMILY: Malvaceae (mallow)
ENGLISH: bamia, bandakai, gobbo, gombo, gumbo, lady’s-fingers,
ochro, ocoro, ocro, okra
PORTUGUESE: gombô, gombó, quigombô, quigombó, quiabo
SPANISH: ají turco, algalia, bombey, candia, candiá, chaucha turca,
chicombó, chimbombo, gombo, guicombo, guingambó, lagarto,
molondrón, naju, ñajú, quiabo, quimbombó, quimgombó, quingombó,
ruibarbo
USES/NOTES: Elongated green pod with its mucilaginous seeds is
eaten as a cooked vegetable, added to soups and stews, or
pickled. Mature seeds are eaten cooked, contain an edible oil
used for cooking, and when dried and ground are used as a coffee
substitute called café de pobre in some Spanish-speaking areas.
Young leaves, flowers, and calyces are eaten cooked. The plant,
introduced to Brazil in 1658 with the slave trade, is also
medicinal and widely cultivated.
NATURAL RANGE: Northeastern Africa, perhaps Ethiopia
REFERENCES: Alcorn 1984, Duke 1986, Guia Rural n.d., IBGE 1980,
Kermath (notes), León 1987, Mabberley 1987, Martin 1982, Martin
and Ruberté 1978a, Omawale 1973, OAS 1973, Terra 1966, von Reis
Altschul 1973
Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medik. [syn. Hibiscus manihot L.]
FAMILY: Malvaceae (mallow)
ENGLISH: aibika, bele, bush cabbage, bush spinach, edible hibiscus,
flowering okra, hibiscus spinach, island cabbage, palmate-leaved
hibiscus, peli, silk flower, slippery cabbage, sunset hibiscus,
sunset musk-mallow, sweet hibiscus, sweet mallow, yellow
abelmoschus, yellow hibiscus
PORTUGUESE: quiabo, quiabeiro
SPANISH: abelmosco
USES/NOTES: High-yielding and nutritious leaves are eaten cooked and
flower buds are edible. Although an important vegetable in
Melanesia and elsewhere in the Old World tropics, A. manihot is not
extensively cultivated in the Americas.
NATURAL RANGE: Tropical Asia, the South Pacific, and northeastern
Australia
REFERENCES: Bailey Hortorium 1976, Facciola 1990, GIPI 2006, Wiersema
and León 1999
Abelmoschus moschatus (L.) Medikus [syn. Hibiscus abelmoschus L.]
FAMILY: Malvaceae (mallow)
ENGLISH: annual hibiscus, musk, musk mallow, musk okra, ornamental
okra, tropical jewel hibiscus
PORTUGUESE: ambreta, falso-algodão, quiabeiro, quiabo, rosaalmiscarada
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