Taxon: Abelmoschus moschatus Medik.

Summary

Genus:

Abelmoschus

Family:

Malvaceae

Subfamily:

Malvoideae

Tribe:

Hibisceae

Nomen number:

623

Place of publication:

Malvenfam. 46. 1787

Verified:

03/09/1995 ARS Systematic Botanists.

Accessions:

68 (67 active, 20 available) in National Plant Germplasm System. (Map it)

Other conspecific taxa

Abelmoschus moschatus Medik. subsp. biakensis (Hochr.) Borss. Waalk. (0 active accession[s])
Abelmoschus moschatus Medik. subsp. moschatus (0 active accession[s])
Abelmoschus moschatus Medik. subsp. tuberosus (Span.) Borss. Waalk. (0 active accession[s])

Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations

No images

Conservation Status

Reference(s)

Aldén, B., S. Ryman, & M. Hjertson. 2012. Svensk Kulturväxtdatabas, SKUD (Swedish Cultivated and Utility Plants Database; online resource)
APHIS. Agricultural Risk Management System United States Department of Agriculture.
Bates, D. M. 1968. Notes on the cultivated Malvaceae 2. Abelmoschus. Baileya 16:104-107.
Borssum Waalkes, J. v. 1966. Malesian Malvaceae revised. Blumea 14:90-95.
Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959-. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
Dassanayake, M. D. & F. R. Fosberg, eds. 1980-. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon.
Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
Duke, J. A. 1985. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
Erhardt, W. et al. 2008. Der große Zander: Enzyklopädie der Pflanzennamen 2:1162.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
Hajra, P. K. et al., eds. 1999-. Flora of Andaman-Nicobar Islands
Hanelt, P., ed. 2001. Mansfeld's encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops. Volumes 1-6
Hara, H. et al. 1978-1982. An enumeration of the flowering plants of Nepal.
Humbert, J.-H., ed. 1936-. Flore de Madagascar et des Comores.
Huxley, A., ed. 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening
Jørgensen, P. M., ed. Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de Bolivia (Catalogue of vascular plants of Bolivia) (on-line resource).
Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third. A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada
McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2 American Herbal Products Association, Silver Spring, Maryland.
Merrill, E. D. 1922-1926. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants.
Nasir, E. & S. I. Ali, eds. 1970-. Flora of [West] Pakistan.
Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.
Patil, P. et al. 2015. A systematic review of the genus Abelmoschus (Malvaceae). Rheedea 25:14-30.
Paul, T. K. & M. P. Nayar. 1988. Malvaceae. In: Botanical Survey of India, Fascicles of flora of India. 19:77.
Personal Care Products Council. International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient
Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
Rehm, S. & G. Espig. 1991. The cultivated plants of the tropics and subtropics
Sharma, B. D. et al., eds. 1993-. Flora of India.
Smith, R. J. Botanical beads of the world (on-line resource).
Soukup, J. 1970. Vocabulario de los nombres vulgares de la flora peruana. Colegio Salesiano, Lima, Peru.
Still, S. M. 1994. Manual of herbaceous ornamental plants, ed. 4
Werner, O. et al. 2016. Molecular systematics of Abelmoschus (Malvaceae) and genetic diversity within the cultivated species of this genus based on nuclear ITS and chloroplast rpL16 sequence data. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 63:429-445. DOI: 10.1007/s10722-015-0259-x.

Common names

Language	Name	seq	Citation
English	musk okra	1	Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
English	musk-mallow	1	Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
English	tropical jewel-hibiscus	1	Still, S. M. 1994. Manual of herbaceous ornamental plants, ed. 4
French	ambrette	2	Duke, J. A. 1985. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
Indonesian	gandapura	2	Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.
Indonesian	kasturi	2	Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.

Distribution

order_code	Status	Continent	Subcontinent	Country	State	Note	Reference
1	Native	Asia-Temperate	China	China	Guangdong Sheng		Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959-. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
1	Native	Asia-Temperate	China	China	Guangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu		Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959-. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
1	Native	Asia-Temperate	China	China	Guizhou Sheng		Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959-. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
1	Native	Asia-Temperate	China	China	Hunan Sheng		Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959-. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
1	Native	Asia-Temperate	China	China	Jiangxi Sheng		Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959-. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
1	Native	Asia-Temperate	China	China	Yunnan Sheng		Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959-. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
1	Native	Asia-Temperate	Eastern Asia	Taiwan
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Indian Subcontinent	Bangladesh
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Indian Subcontinent	India			Sharma, B. D. et al., eds. 1993-. Flora of India.
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Indian Subcontinent	Sri Lanka			Dassanayake, M. D. & F. R. Fosberg, eds. 1980-. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon.
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Indo-China	Cambodia
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Indo-China	India	Andaman and Nicobar Islands		Sharma, B. D. et al., eds. 1993-. Flora of India.
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Indo-China	Laos
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Indo-China	Thailand
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Indo-China	Vietnam
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Malesia	Indonesia
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Malesia	Malaysia
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Malesia	Philippines
1	Native	Asia-Tropical	Papuasia	Papua New Guinea
1	Native	Australasia	Australia	Australia	Northern Territory
1	Native	Australasia	Australia	Australia	Queensland
1	Native	Australasia	Australia	Australia	Western Australia	n.
2	Cultivated					also cult. elsewhere	Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.
2	Cultivated	Africa	Western Indian Ocean	Madagascar			Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.
2	Cultivated	Asia-Tropical	Indian Subcontinent	India			Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.
2	Cultivated	Asia-Tropical	Malesia	Indonesia	Jawa		Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.
2	Cultivated	Southern America		South America			Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.
2	Cultivated	Southern America	Central America	Central America			Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.
4	Naturalized	Pacific	Southwestern Pacific	Fiji		natzd.?
4	Naturalized	Southern America	Western South America	Peru	Loreto		Soukup, J. 1970. Vocabulario de los nombres vulgares de la flora peruana. Colegio Salesiano, Lima, Peru.

Native
Asia-Temperate

CHINA: China [Guangdong Sheng, Guangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu, Guizhou Sheng, Hunan Sheng, Jiangxi Sheng, Yunnan Sheng]
EASTERN ASIA: Taiwan

Asia-Tropical

INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka
PAPUASIA: Papua New Guinea
INDO-CHINA: India [Andaman and Nicobar Islands], Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam
MALESIA: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines

Australasia

AUSTRALIA: Australia [Queensland, Western Australia (n.), Northern Territory]

Cultivated

REGION:

Africa

WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN: Madagascar

Asia-Tropical

INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: India
MALESIA: Indonesia [Jawa]

Southern America

CENTRAL AMERICA: Central America
REGION: South America

Naturalized
Pacific

SOUTHWESTERN PACIFIC: Fiji (natzd.?)

Southern America

WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA: Peru [Loreto]

Reference(s)

Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959-. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
Dassanayake, M. D. & F. R. Fosberg, eds. 1980-. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon.
Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.
Sharma, B. D. et al., eds. 1993-. Flora of India.
Soukup, J. 1970. Vocabulario de los nombres vulgares de la flora peruana. Colegio Salesiano, Lima, Peru.

Economic Uses

Usage	Type	Note	Reference
Food additives	flavoring		Hanelt, P., ed. 2001. Mansfeld's encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops. Volumes 1-6
Materials	beads		Smith, R. J. Botanical beads of the world (on-line resource).
Materials	essential oils		Hanelt, P., ed. 2001. Mansfeld's encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops. Volumes 1-6
Materials	essential oils	source of ambrette oil	Oyen, L. P. A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung, eds. 1999. Essential-oil plants. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 19:57-60.
Medicines	folklore		Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
Medicines	folklore		McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2 American Herbal Products Association, Silver Spring, Maryland.

Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2026. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: https://npgstest.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=623. Accessed 17 April 2026.