_Capsulæ Hibisci esculenti_; _Uëhka_, _Okro_, _Okra_, _Bendi-kai_[375];
F. _Gombo_ (in the French Colonies).
=Botanical Origin=—_Hibiscus esculentus_ L. (_Abelmoschus esculentus
Guill. et Perr._) an herbaceous annual plant 2 to 3 or even 10 feet
high, indigenous to the Old World.[376] It has been found growing
abundantly wild on the White Nile by Schweinfurth, and also in 1861 by
Col. Grant in Unyoro, 2° N. lat., near the lake Victoria Nyanza, where
it is known to the natives as Bameea.
The plant is now largely cultivated in several varieties in all
tropical countries.
=History=—The Spanish Moors appear to have been well acquainted with
_Hibiscus esculentus_, which was known to them by the same name that
it has in Persian at the present day—_Bámiyah_. Abul Abbas el-Nebáti,
a native of Seville learned in plants, who visited Egypt in A.D. 1216,
describes[377] in unmistakeable terms the form of the plant, its seeds
and fruit, which last he remarks is eaten when young and tender with
meat by the Egyptians. The plant was figured among Egyptian plants in
1592 by Prosper Alpinus,[378] who mentions its uses as an external
emollient.
The powdered fruits as imported from Arabia Felix were known for some
time (about the year 1848) in Europe as _Nafé of the Arabs_. They are
noticed in the present work from the circumstance that they have a
place in the _Pharmacopœia of India_.
=Description=—The fruit is a thin capsule, 4 to 6 or more inches long
and about an inch in diameter, oblong, pointed, with 5 to 7 ridges
corresponding to the valves and cells, each of which latter contains a
single row of round seeds. It is covered with rough hairs and is green
or purplish when fresh; it has a slightly sweet mucilaginous taste and
a weak herbaceous odour. Like many other plants of the order, _Hibiscus
esculentus_ abounds in all its parts with insipid mucilage.
[375] Uëhka in Arabic, according to Schweinfurth. _Okro_ or _Okra_ are
common names for the plant in the East and West Indies. _Bendi-kai_, a
Canarese and Tamil word, is used by Europeans in the South of India.
_Gigambo_ in Curaçao.
[376] Fig. Bentley and Trimen, _Med. Plants_, part 35 (1878).
[377] Ibn Baytar, Sontheimer’s translation, i. 118; Wüstenfeld,
_Geschichte der Arab. Aerzte_ etc. 1840. 118.
[378] _De plant. Ægypt._, Venet. 1592. cap. 27.
=Microscopic Structure=—A characteristic part for microscopic
examination are the hairs of the fruit. They exhibit at the base one
large cell, but their elongated and often slightly curved end is built
up at a considerable number of small cells, without any solid contents.
The middle and outer zone of the pericarp shows enormous holes filled
up with colourless mucilage. In polarized light it is easily seen to be
composed of successive layers.
=Chemical Composition=—It is probable that the fruits contain the same
mucilage as _Althæa_, but we have had no opportunity of investigating
the fact. Landrin[379] says it turns violet with iodine and yields no
mucic acid when treated with nitric acid. Popp, who examined the green
fruits in Egypt, states[380] that they abound in pectin, starch and
mucilage. He found that when dried they afforded 2 to 2·4 per cent. of
nitrogen, and an ash rich in salts of lime, potash and magnesia. The
ripe seeds gave 2·4-2·5 per cent. of nitrogen; their ash 24 per cent.
of phosphoric acid.
=Uses=—The fresh or dried, unripe fruits are used in tropical countries
as a demulcent like marshmallow, or as an emollient poultice, for which
latter purpose the leaves may also be employed. They are more important
from an economic point of view, being much employed for thickening
soups or eaten boiled as a vegetable. The root has been recommended as
a substitute for that of _Althæa_.[381] The stems of the plant yield a
good fibre.