Part 37

=shiḅa= or =saḅi= = carded cotton; vide under =abduga=.

=shibra= or =shura=, vide under =gero=.

=shinaka= (Sok. Kats., &c.), Ctenium elegans, Kunth. (Gramineæ). A grass about 2 feet high with a single one-sided bristly flower-spike. Syn. =wutsiyar kusu=. (The name includes the similar species Schœnefeldia gracilis, Kunth. with several one-sided flower-spikes). Used in thatching.

=shinkafa=, Oryza sativa, Linn. (Gramineæ). Rice; cultivated in marshes and inundated localities. shanshera or burungu = rice grain in the husk; ḍanyen gumi = husked but unboiled rice; gumi = husked rice boiled and dried; bawu (Sok. Ful.?), or shinkafa wutsiya = rice unsown but growing sporadically from fallen grains; often harvested and eaten.

=shinkafe=, or =lalaki= (Sok.), Oryza silvestris, Stapf. Wild Rice; common in marshes and pools; much used for thatch and eaten in scarcity; (= Ful. nanare, name used equally by Hausas in Sokoto). Syn. =shinkafar rishi= (Katsina and East; rishi = wart-hog, gadu or mugun dăwa, which eats the roots).

=shirinya=, Ficus sp. (Urticaceæ). Narrow-leaved fig-tree. A large tree with milky juice and small figs. Syn. =shiriya= (Sok.).

=shiwaka=, Vernonia amygdalina, Delile (Compositæ). A shrub with whitish flowers, wild and commonly planted in compounds; the root is used as a tooth-stick and bitter tonic, and the leaves medicinally in various ways. maye (Sok.), or fatte (Kano), or fate fate (East Hausa), is a secret medicine of women, prepared from the leaves along with other native drugs.

=shiwakar jan garigari=, a shrub with bitter properties like the above. (Etym. because said to grow in places of red soil). Anaphrenium pulcherrimum, Schweinf. (Anacardiaceæ), and probably others.

=shuni=, prepared indigo; the blue dye-stuff extracted from =baba=, usually sold as blue cones or lumps.

=shunin biri= (Kontagora), Lonchocarpus laxiflorus, G. et P. (Leguminosæ). A small tree with bunches of purple flowers. Syn. =farin sansami= (Sok. and Kats.), =halshen sa= (Zanfara). In some pagan districts this is called =babar talaki=, and used as a dye; vide =talaki=.

=shura= or =shibra=, vide under =gero=.

=siliyar sulkuwa=, vide under =rumfar gada=.

=siyayi= or =tsiyayi= = =ḳeḳasheshe=; vide under =rama=.

=soso=, Luffa ægyptiaca, Mill. (Cucurbitaceæ). “Loofah gourd;” a climber with yellow flowers and cucumber-shaped fruit with a fibrous vascular skeleton used as a scrubber or strainer, &c. Pulp of immature fruit eaten cooked. soson yama, Luffa acutangula, Roxb. a species with larger fruit with longitudinal ridges; (called also soson wanka, because more used as a loofah in washing).

=subtu= or =sutu=; cotton before carding, pulled by hand after removal of the seeds by a roller on a stone; vide under =abduga=.

=sunasar= = a food made from wheat; vide under =alkama=.

=sure= (Sok.) = =yakuwa=, q.v. Hibiscus Sabdariffa, Linn. “Red Sorrel.”

=suren fadama= (Sok.), Triumfetta pentandra, A. Rich. (Tiliaceæ); an erect branching undershrub with small echinate fruits which adhere to the clothing; vide =ḍan kaḍafi=. The leaves are sometimes used as chusar doki; vide under =kuka=.

=surendi=, vide =dayi=.

=sutura=, a species of Euphorbia with milky juice; called also =tutar yan sariki=; (vide also under =zaḳami=).

=T=

=Taba=, Nicotiana tabacum, Linn. (Solanaceæ). Tobacco. Cultivated in most parts of N. Nigeria in alluvial soil; used for smoking and in the form of powder for chewing and as snuff. Flowers rubbed on the teeth while chewing certain varieties of kola nut, to give a red colour; fure = a flower, when unqualified generally means tobacco flowers.

=taḅa ni ka samu=, a name applied to several trees affording useful products; e.g. Ficus Vogelii, Miq. of which the latex forms a variety of rubber. cf. =kurnan nasara=, and =zogalagandi=.

=tabar angulu=, =tabar kura=, a species of fungus; vide =tumukun suri=.

=tabarman zomo=, vide =takalmin zomo=.

=tafarnuwa=, Allium sativum, Linn. (Liliaceæ). Garlic. Cultivated like the onion; vide =albasa=, from which it differs in having flat leaves (hollow or fistular in the onion), and the bulb divided into several lesser bulblets. Only used as a medicine, commonly for fevers and stomach complaints.

=tafasa=, Cassia tora, Linn. (Leguminosæ). An undershrub of the senna tribe with yellow flowers; leaves used in soup and as a mild laxative.

=tafashia=, Sarcocephalus Russegeri, Kotschy (Rubiaceæ). A shrub with large balls of white flowers and a red edible fruit; bark and root used medicinally; a common “Chew-stick.”