Okra
Abelmoschus esculentus
The plant today
Okra (US: , UK: ), Abelmoschus esculentus, known in some English-speaking countries as lady's fingers, is a flowering plant in the mallow family native to West Africa. Cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions around the world for its edible green (red in some cultivars) seed pods, okra is used in the cuisines of many countries.
Excerpt from “Okra” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Ang okra ay isang uri ng halamang gulay na malawakang itinatanim sa tropiko at may katamtamang lamig na mga Rehiyon. Kilala ito sa katawagang Bhindi, Bamia at Gumbo sa ibang bansa at kinalala bilang isa sa mahalagang halamang gulay sa lahat ng Kultura sa Amerika, Aprika, timog at Silangang Asya maging sa katimugang Europa.
Sipi mula sa “Okra” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 145 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 34 provinces, most often Zamboanga del Norte (15), Cavite (7), Davao del Sur (7), Batangas (6), Iloilo (6), Laguna (6), Davao Oriental (5), Rizal (5), and 26 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- FeverDecoction of roasted, ground seeds, drunk.Roast dried seeds and grind them fine. Boil half a cup of the powder in 2 glasses of water for 15 minutes, cool and strain. Adults take 1 cup three times a day after meals. Children after meals: babies 1 tablespoon, ages 2 to 6 a quarter cup, ages 7 to 12 half a cup.Page 25
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Okra” on page 115. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- The complete mitochondrial genome of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus): using nanopore long reads to investigate gene transfer from chloroplast genomes and rearrangements of mitochondrial DNA molecules
- Response surface methodology optimization and HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS analysis on ultrasonic-assisted extraction of phenolic compounds from okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) and their antioxidant activity
- Effects of malic acid and EDTA on oxidative stress and antioxidant enzymes of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) exposed to cadmium stress