An erect coarse subshrubby herb to 2 m tall, pubescent; leaves cordate, 3-9- lobed, serrate, to 30 cm broad; stems glabrate; calyx caducous; corolla yellow with dark red eye, to 5 cm long; fruit long cylindric, ridged, shortly villous, 10-20 cm long, with many seeds, mucilaginous, edible. Probably a native of Tropical Africa, now well known in cultivation in most hot countries, providing the familiar "okra" or "gumbo"; sparingly cultivated in Guam, as at Barrigada (4892). The capsules should be picked while green. They may also be pickled. Like other malvaceous plants, the fibrous bark provides a cordage material.