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GUMBO, or OKRA

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 717 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GUMBO, or OKRA , termed also Okro, Ochro, Ketmia, Gubbo and Syrian See also:mallow (Sans. Tindisa, See also:Bengali Dheras, Pers. Bdmiyah—the Bammia of Prosper Alpinus ; Fr. Gombaut, or better Gombo, and Ketmie comestible), Hibiscus esculentus, a herbaceous hairy See also:annual plant of the natural See also:order See also:Malvaceae, probably of See also:African origin, and now naturalized or cultivated in all tropical countries. The leaves are cordate, and 3 to 5-lobed, and the See also:flowers yellow, with a See also:crimson centre; the See also:fruit or pod, the Bendi-Kai of the Europeans of See also:southern See also:India, is a tapering, 10-angled See also:capsule, 4 to 10 in. in length, except in the See also:dwarf varieties of the plant, and contains numerous See also:oval dark-coloured seeds, hairy at the See also:base. Three distinct varieties of the gumbo (Quiabo and Quimgombo) in See also:Brazil have been described by See also:Pacheco. The unripe fruit is eaten either pickled or prepared like See also:asparagus. It is also an ingredient in various dishes, e.g. the gumbo of the Southern See also:United States and the calalou of See also:Jamaica; and on See also:account of the large amount of See also:mucilage it contains, it is extensively consumed, both fresh and in the See also:form of the prepared See also:powder, for the thickening of broths and soups. For See also:winter use it is salted or sliced and dried. The fruit is grown on a very large See also:scale in the vicinity of See also:Constantinople. It was one of the esculents of See also:Egypt in the See also:time of Abul-Abbas el-Nebati, who.. journeyed to See also:Alexandria in 1216 (Wiistenfeld, Gesch. d. crab. rzte, p. 118, Gott., 184o), and is still cultivated by the Egyptians, who called it Bammge.

The seeds of the gumbo are used as a substitute for See also:

coffee. From their demulcent and emollient properties, the leaves and immature fruit have See also:long been in repute in the See also:East for the preparation of poultices and fomentations. Alpinus (1592) mentions the employment of their decoction in Egypt in ophthalmia and in uterine and other complaints. The See also:musk okra (Sans., Latakasturika, cf. the Gr. ,caQrwp; Bengali, Latdkasturi; Ger. Bisamkornerstrauch; Fr. Ketmie musquee), Hibiscus Abelmoschus (Abelmoschus moschatus), indigenous to India, and cultivated in most warm regions of the globe, is a suffruticose plant, bearing a conical 5-ridged pod about 3 in. in length, within which are numerous See also:brown reniform seeds, smaller, than those of H. esculentus. The seeds possess a musky odour, due to an oleo-See also:resin See also:present in the integument, and are known to perfumers under the name of ambrette as a substitute for musk. They are said to be used by the See also:Arabs for scenting coffee. The seeds (in the Fantee See also:language, Incromahom) are used in See also:Africa as beads; and powdered and steeped in See also:rum they are valued in the See also:West Indies as a remedy for snake-bites. The plant yields an excellent fibre, and, being See also:rich in mucilage, is employed in Upper India for the clarifying of See also:sugar. The best-perfumed seeds are reported to come from See also:Martinique.

See P. Alpinus, De plantis Aegypti, cap. See also:

xxvii. p. 38 (See also:Venice, 1592) ; J. Sontheimer's Abd See also:Allah See also:ibn Ahmad, &c., i. 118 (See also:Stuttgart, 1840-1842); P. P. Pacheco, " La Ketmie potagere ou comestible," La Belgique horticole, iv. 63 (1853) ; Della Sudda, " De 1'emploi a Constantinople de la See also:racine de 1'Hibiscus esculentus," Repert. de pharm., See also:January 186o, __p. 229; E. J. Waring, Pharm. of India, p. 35 (1868) ; O.

Popp, " Uber See also:

die Aschenbestandteile der Samen von See also:Acacia nilotica and Hibiscus esculentus in Agypten," See also:Arch. der Pharm. cxcv. p. 140 (1871); See also:Drury, The Useful See also:Plants of India, pp. 1, 2 (2nd ed., 1873); U. C. See also:Dutt, The See also:Mat. Med. of the See also:Hindus, pp. 123, 321 (1877); See also:Lanessan, Hist. See also:des drogues, i. 181-184 (1878); G. See also:Watt, See also:Dictionary of the Economic Products of India (189o).

End of Article: GUMBO, or OKRA

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