Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.), belonging to the cotton family Malvaceae, originated in the Abyssinian centre of origin of cultivated plants, an area that includes present-day Ethiopia, the mountainous or plateau portion of Eritrea, and the eastern, higher part of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The crop was probably taken into Egypt by Moslems from the East who conquered Egypt in the seventh century. It is believed that by 700 AD, okra cultivation had spread throughout North Africa, the Middle East and India (Zeven and Zhukovsky 1975).