Big luschus plants. Only about 5% of the
3 inch flower buds ever open. Buds dont open.so no okra from those. I've grown crimson spinless for 35 yrs.no problems. Whats going on with this African variety ?

Philipwonel!

I'm not quite sure which variety your speaking of. To my knowledge Okra, as a whole, http://garden.org/plants/brows...
are native to SE Asia, and Africa. But I'm not familiar with an 'African' variety. If you click on the link above, it will take you to our database showing many different varieties.

I've also grown the 'Clemson Spineless' with much success, and this year I'm growing 'Emerald', and 'Baby Bubba'.
'Emerald' is quickly becoming our favorite!

terrafirma said: Okra, as a whole, http://garden.org/plants/brows...
are native to SE Asia, and Africa. But I'm not familiar with an 'African' variety.

The history of Okra goes back to Ethiopia.

True, SE Asia, Ethiopia, Western Africa... Origins are disputed. According to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

I'm still not familiar with 'African' variety.

edit to add wiki link.

Abelmoschus manihot subsp. manihot
Look online for information using the synonym A. Caillei.

http://www.semagricmr.com/en/n...
http://www.scienceworldjournal...
http://scihub.org/ABJNA/PDF/20...

Hopefully the OP will come back with more info.

Did I miss something? Still am unsure of 'African' variety.

Are you saying that A. caillei, is the variety 'African'? Maybe this needs to be looked at for addition to the Okra database?

Still unsure. Hope OP comes back with a little more info.

I have searched using a couple different search engines, and even though I found this link "Lost Crops of Africa" it did not name a specific variety.

http://www.nap.edu/read/11763/...

This one mentions Clemson spineless and a couple other familiar varieties

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu...

And this is chock full of okra info, but again, no African varieties.

http://www.neurophys.wisc.edu/...

I got the african variety okra from Sand Hill Preservation Center. The seed packet doesnt have any genius name on it.
Ive gotten long tender okra at local farm mkt.they told me it was texas long from ______ seeds.its not.i want to grow a long okra that will do well in fresno calif. Zone 8 an 9 go through town.thanks for your responces an research.now im wondering what other name african goes by.oh.i also planted cheerokee long pod .very poor results.

Hi Philip. Check out the 'Emerald' variety here... Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus 'Emerald')
Scroll down to the comment section.
This is quickly becoming our favorite, mainly due to the fact that as the pods get larger/longer, they retain tenderness.

Thank you Tara.i prefer emerald over crimson.it is more forgiving than crimson.
They taste the same to.

This is the seed type offered by Sand Hill, Abelmoschus caillei Studies seem to indicate that it might not be an A manihot X A esculentus cross

"This taxon was described as a species in 1988 although it is only known from cultivated material. Classification as a cultivar-group might have been more appropriate. There are strong indications that Abelmoschus caillei is an amphidiploid of Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench (2n = 130–140) and Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medik. (2n = 60–68). However, the latter species has not been found with certainty in the area of distribution of West African okra, and isozyme analysis has neither confirmed nor rejected the relationships. Abelmoschus manihot differs from Abelmoschus caillei by a smaller number of epicalyx segments (4–8), and much smaller fruits (3.5–6 cm long) which are inedible because they are covered with prickly hairs. Abelmoschus esculentus differs in several respects from Abelmoschus caillei, but the epicalyx offers the best discriminating characteristic: the width of the epicalyx segments is 4–13 mm in Abelmoschus caillei and 0.5–3 mm in Abelmoschus esculentus. The two okra species can be quite reliably (but not with absolute certainty) recognized on the basis of fruit form. Fruits of Abelmoschus caillei are ovoid, whereas fruits of Abelmoschus esculentus are cylindrical to pyramidal."
PROTA


http://plants.jstor.org/stable...

http://tropical.theferns.info/...

This link seems to have the most info on West African okra

http://uses.plantnet-project.o...)

Your okra problem might not be the okra. It may be the area you are. Our okra plants can reach 12'tall and dont stop til freeze, but our humidity and summer moisture are high. Where are you growing your okra? Also, we trim the lower leaves off, sounds like soil may be too rich...let their feet dry out some.