The Fruits are blackish when ripe, green with a pubescence before ripe, 2-lobed, with a cell in each lobe. They are edible.
GUIERA SENEGALENSIS Lam.—Sabara. COMBRETACEAE.
A shrub, or, very occasionally, a small tree, which covers wide areas of otherwise barren land in the Bush savannah. In north-west Sokoto, for example, there are miles of this scrub covering what were large areas of cultivation at one time. It also covers the bare rocky slopes and summits of the flat-topped hills. On these it is associated with the smaller Combretum species “geza.” In appearance it is a bushy plant with several stems, dusty grey-green in colour from a few feet to about 15 feet in height. It is most conspicuous in fruit. The stems are very subject to a gall caused by a grub whose brown excretions fill the cavity in the gall. A small black and brown ant is found covering the plant at times.
The Bark is grey, and that of the young stems and branches is brown and covered with loose, brown fibres running vertically.
The Wood is cream-coloured with a reddish tinge. In transverse section the rings are darker bands, the pores are very small, single, in nests and in festoons, the contents closing most of them; the rays are very fine and evenly spaced, close together. The grain is coarse and twisted and the wood is tough and of no practical value. Weight 55 lbs. a cubic foot.
The Leaves vary much in size, being from 1-2 inches long and ¾-1½ inches wide. They have a slightly cordate base, a pointed tip and are broadly oval. The stalk is ¼ inch long. They are in pairs and opposite. They are a dusty grey-green, but a fresh green when new, and are rather dry and leathery in composition.
The Flowers, which are found at most times of the year, are in greeny-yellow, spherical heads about ½ inch across, enclosed at first in a sheath of bracts which splits open first into two parts and finally into four, which bend right back and persist in the fruiting stage. The head of flowers is on an inch long stalk in the axil of a leaf and bears a pair of tiny bracts about half-way up. Each flower has a 5-lobed calyx, 5 slender petals and 10 long stamens round a straight pistil. The whole is covered with minute black dots which are raised.
The Fruits are 1½ inches long, slightly curved, pointed at both ends, extremely hard, and covered with long silky straight hairs. In section they are 5-lobed, occasionally more, and contain one long seed. They may be seen for several months in the year, chiefly in the dry season, and are very conspicuous with their silky hairs. They have often a pronounced pink tint.