Botany of Ohra 3^7 



The Okea Plant 



Hibiscus. MalvacecB. Nearly 200 species of herbs and small 

 trees in many parts of tbe world. 



H. esculentus, Linn. Sp. PI. 696. Okea. Gumbo. (Ahel- 

 moschus esculentus, Mcench, Meth. 617. 1794.) Stout erect 

 branching nearly glabrous annual (biennial and perhaps per- 

 ennial), 2 to 7 ft. tall: stems terete, pithy, more or less fur- 

 rowed, often colored, glabrous or with few scattered hairs : 

 leaves alternate, long-petioled, the blade various in shape 

 from rounded and hollyhock-like to palmately 3- to 5-parted 

 or compound, the margins coarsely and irregularly dentate, 

 cordate at the base, with scattered hairs on the veins : flowers 

 solitary in the upper axils, on stout erect furrowed or angled 

 peduncles, large, yellow or straw-yellow with a red eye, sub- 

 tended by very narrow bracteoles about 1 in. long; calyx-lobes 

 large and broad, acute, about half the length of the bell-shaped 

 corolla which is 2 to 3 in. long ; petals large and showy, 

 obovate ; stamens united in a column in the center of the 

 flower and surrounding the 5 styles : fruit a long straight or 

 curved strongly ribbed pubescent or hairy 5-celled pod (4 to 12 

 in. long), which is expanded at the base and long-pointed 

 at the apex : seeds gray or brown, skull-shaped or nearly 

 globular, with fine concentric broken lines, and a whitish 

 base-point, A to 14 in. diameter, about 45 to 60 mg. in weight, 

 lasting about 5 years. — Supposedly native in Old World tropics, 

 Africa or Asia or both ; probably not anciently cultivated, 

 although now widespread in warpi countries. 



MARTYNIA 



Martynia is grown for the half-matured seed-pods, which 

 are used for pickles. The plant requires a warm soil and 

 exposure. Give much room, for a good plant will spread 

 over an area of 3 or 4 feet across. It is a low-spreading 

 plant of very rapid growth, with very large hairy leaves, 

 odd showy flowers, and long-beaked hairy pods. It de- 



