FoI
Hairy Okra
Share Foto info
Hairy Okra
ative Photo: Dimple Bhati
Common name: Hairy Okra • Hindi: Kamlya • Kannada: Kachalu • Oriya: Ban bhindi
Botanical name: Abelmoschus crinitus    Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Synonyms: Hibiscus cancellatus

Hairy Okra is an erect herb, 0.5-1.5 m tall. Roots are usually tuberous. Branches, leaf- and flower-stalks are hairy, usually bristly. Leaves are 10-15 cm long and broad, circular or broadly ovate, heart-shaped at base, bristly-hairy, angular or 5-7 lobed, coarsely toothed. Stipules are 1-2 cm long, linear to thread-like. Leaf-stalks are 1-18 cm long. Flowers arise in leaf axils, usually singly, on 2 cm long stalks. The stalk elongates in fruit up to 3 cm. Pseudo-seppals are 10-16, 2.5-5 cm long, 0.5-1 mm broad, linear. Sepals cup is 2-2.5 cm long. Flowers are 6-7 cm across, yellow with a purple spot in the centre. Petals are 6-8 cm long, 4 cm broad, obovoid. Stamen column is about 2 cm long. Capsule is 3.5-5 cm long, 2.5-3.5 cm across, ovoid to round, velvety, bristly. Seeds are 3-3.5 mm across, globular or kidney-shaped, black, rusty velvety or hairless.

Identification credit: N. S. Dungriyal
Photographed in Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh.
• Is this flower misidentified? If yes,