Part 15

girgera or gargasa, a white-grained variety like maiwa, but considered one of the best or most elegant (= farin gero or geron Adar, because common in French territory);

ba anguri (East Hausa), the same as or a near variety to girgera;

tarnekuwa; wuyan bajimi, a short thick spike with hard grain and much chaff;

tamangaji, a variety with pointed grains;

lawur, a short variety quickly ripe;

shibra or shura (Pennisetum Benthamii, Steud. var.?), a short and thin-stemmed variety early maturing; (also applied to infertile spikes not maturing, stripped while young and used in kunu or soup, &c.).

Lesser variations are:—

halshen damo, with a bifid spike;

gero mai geme, when the lower part of the flowering spike is compound;

gero mai gashi, a bristly spike, (considered of value because birds cannot plunder), and called gargasa (= hirsute) in Kano; the same as girgera;

gumba = =gero= cleaned, husked and winnowed, and ground up for eating uncooked with milk and other food.

=Geron tsuntsaye=, 1. Phyllanthus pentandrus, Sch. and Thon. (and other similar species of Euphorbiaceæ); a common slender-branched weed with minute capsular fruit eaten by birds; syn. =hatsin tsuntsaye=. 2. The fruiting head of a species of bulrush (Typha australis), called =shalla=, q.v.

=gewayen tsamiya=, usually = Vitis quadrangularis, vide =ḍaḍori=, but sometimes applied to several other plants growing under or climbing upon the tamarind-tree.

=geza=, Combretum sp. probably C. altum, Perr. (Combretaceæ); a shrub or small tree with white flowers and 4-winged fruit, well known in the north.

fara geza, Combretum aculeatum, Vent. a shrub with 4-winged fruit and clusters of white flowers; (a different species from the above).

=gigi=? (Sok.), vide =faskara toyi=.

=giginya=, Borassus flabellifer, var. æthiopum, Warb. (Palmeæ). “Deleb Palm,” “Fan” or “Palmyra Palm;” common straight-stemmed palm with fan-like leaves.

muruchi = the young germinating shoots, eaten as a vegetable; shedari = a mat made of the unexpanded fronds—(called murlin giginya, vide under murli).

ḳodago, the nut, and the kernel kwalshi, vide under goriba. cf. also gangame, kankămi and ḳarari. ḳarri (Kano) = fronds of giginya, cf. kaba.

ḳundu (Kano) = the bulging of the giginya stem.

=giginyar biri=, Tacca pinnatifida, Forst. (= T. involucrata, Sch. and Thon.) (Taccaceæ). A perennial herb with a superficial resemblance to a small palm, having a long-stalked divided leaf and an umbel of greenish flowers and yellow succulent fruit. The large starchy tuber is an important article of food in some countries; a var. of “arrowroot” is prepared from it in the Pacific Islands and elsewhere; vide under =amara=. Boys call the tall flowering stems sandan yan bori, sandan biri, or sandan dutsi, and use them as toy spears. Other names for the plant are =gatarin zomo= and ?=yayu= or =tara yaya= (Katagum).

=girgera=, a var. of =gero=, q.v.

=giri giri=, 1. In Sokoto = =aya aya=, q.v. the tuber of a sedge. 2. In Kano, Hadeija, &c. = ?Pachyrhizus tuberosus, Spreng. “Yam Bean” or “Manioc Pea;” a bean with a starchy tuberous root. (vide also =sa baba sata=). The name includes Vigna ornata, Welw. a tuberous-rooted bean, with handsome pink flowers, in the Benué district (Munchi-ahoma). A speckled variety of the seeds is called kashin kaza.

=gishirin dawaki=, a grass; vide =dataniya=.

=gishishiya=? (Zanfara), a species of acacia; vide =dussa=.

=giwa kamba=, a var. of =dawa=, q.v.

=giyeya= or =giyaiya=, Mitragyne africana, Korth. (Rubiaceæ); a tree with spherical heads of flowers, abundant in damp localities.

=gizaḳi= (Zanfara), Carissa edulis, Vahl. (Apocynaceæ); a scrambling shrub with black sweet berries. The root is put in the goran ruwa to render water agreeable. Syn. ?=uwa banza=.