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.
... for making things over. He wasn't really hungry, for nobody can starve in a small town in South Carolina; folks are too kindly, too neighborly, too generous, for anything like that to happen. They have a tactful fashion of coming over with a plate of hot biscuit or a big bowl of steaming okra-and-tomato soup. ... — The Purple Heights • Marie Conway Oemler
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