Closely related to the cotton plant, okra seed pods are harvested when immature.
The okra plant originated in the Near East and came to America with the slave trade. The name okra comes from the Gold Coast of Africa language twi, as "nkruman," and was gradually abridged to okra.
Slaves from Angola called okra "ngumbo" which became gumbo, still a widely-used synonym by which many okra dishes are described.