abakuru, a food made from the ground-bean; vide under [kwaruru].
abantoko, a var. of [dawa] q.v.
abawa, vide under [abduga].
abduga or auduga, indigenous species of Gossypium (Malvaceæ)—G. peruvianum, Cav. G. punctatum, Sch. et Thon. G. obtusifolium, Roxb. G. arboreum, L. with varieties, hybrids and other introduced species. The Cotton Plant or raw cotton. Syn. kaḍa (Sok.). Varieties known in different districts are:—ba ka tuka, or ba tuka, ya tabshi, ya tsauri, or ya ḳarifi, kwanta Ali da zugu, Ba-Gwandare, yar gari (G. obtusifolium, var. africana, Watt.), gwundi (G. peruvianum var. with red leaf veins), chukwi, laḅayi (G. punctatum), and kanawa or matan kanawa (G. arboreum, L. var. sanguinea, Watt.); the leaves of the last or of gwundi are used for making a red dye for thread. guriya (Sok.), anguriya (Kano), or yan guriya = cotton seed; sutu or subtu = cotton freed from the seed by crushing with a stone and roller and pulled by hand before carding with the masaḅi or bakan shiḅa (cotton carding bow); saḅi or shiḅa = carded cotton; zare = thinly plied cotton thread, used chiefly for the warp, and sometimes for warp and weft; abawa (Kano), or bartake (Sok.) = thicker loosely plied thread used for the weft; (the coarse cloth goddo, or nuru (East Hausa), woven on a vertical loom in broad strips and with a fringe, has abawa in warp and weft); waḍari = cotton yarn ready for weaving; fari (Kano) = woven cotton strips; zugu (Sok.) = cotton strips in a roll (= kunkurun fari, Kano); sawaye (Sok.) = the same unrolled; taḅe (Sok.), or chin aduga (Kano) = to pluck cotton out of the pod.
abokin kibiya, a tall grass used for arrow-shafts; vide [ḳyamro].
aburu, a grass used for food; vide [iburu].
acha, Digitaria exilis, Stapf. (Paspalum exile, Kipp.) (Gramineæ); a small grass cultivated as a cereal in several Hausa provinces, in Bornu, and by many pagan tribes. Syn. intaya (Sok. Kamberi, Kamuku, &c.), “Hungry Rice”. cf. also [tumbin jaki].
a chi da gero, a chi da kara, a chi da nono, vars. of Guinea Corn; vide under [dawa].
aduruku, Newbouldia lævis, Sun. (Bignoniaceæ); a tall slender tree with handsome purple flowers; often planted around native compounds. Syn. ba reshe?
aduwa, Balanites ægyptiaca, Del. (Simarubeæ). “Desert Date”; a thorny tree common in the north, deciduous but with evergreen branches, bifoliate leaves and yellow bitter-sweet fruit; its gum = ḳaron aduwa; the seeds yield “Oil of Betu” (Kanuri, bito); dabagira = flowers of aduwa, boiled and eaten with [daudawa], q.v. salt and pepper; kaikwaiyo (Sok. Kano, &c.) = the kernel, sold as a medicine. Fruit edible; a common ingredient in fish-poison.