a tall malvaceous plant, Hibiscus or Abelmoschus esculentus, indigenous to Africa, now cultivated in the East and West Indies and the southern United States; the young mucilaginous capsules or ‘pods’ are used as an esculent vegetable and for thickening soup; the stem furnishes a fibre suitable for ropes. Also a name for the pods, gumbo - a colloquial name for the okra plant or its pods (Hibiscus esculentus); a soup thickened with the mucilaginous pods of this plant