gamba, Andropogon Guyanus, Kunth. (Gramineæ); a very common tall grass with bifid flowering spikes; perhaps the most commonly used grass for zana.
gamji or ganji (Kano), Ficus platyphylla Del. (Urticaceæ). “Gutta-percha Tree;” a large tree with broad conspicuously veined leaves and small edible figs (vide [lubiya]). The latex forms an inferior kind of rubber (“Red Kano rubber”).
gamma faḍa (Kano, &c.), Cassia Kotschyana, Oliv. (Leguminosæ); a tree with laburnum-like yellow flowers and long cylindrical pods which do not split. Syn. malga or marga (Sok. Gobir, &c.). Also Cassia Sieberiana, DC. and perhaps other species (very similar to the “Pudding Pipe Tree”—Cassia fistula). The dark pulp around the seeds is a laxative drug. Scarcely distinguished in Hausa from the somewhat similar Cassia Arereh, Swartzia madagascariensis, Oliv. and others whose pods split longitudinally. vide under [bayama], [bogo zage], and [haḍa fuḍa]. The pods of some of these are sometimes used as a fish-poison, vide under [ago] and [baina]. (Etym. gamma faḍa—“leading to feud,” from unskilled or improper use as a drug.)
gamma gari, vide under [goro].
gamma sanwa, vide [bakin mutum].
gammon bawa, Merremia angustifolia. Syn. yamḅururu. (Etym. the equivalent of a Beri Beri name—“slave’s head-pad”).
gandi, a var. of kola nut; vide under [goro].
gangamau, Curcuma longa, L. (Scitamineæ); Turmeric, a plant like ginger; the rhizome is sold in the form of slices and used as a yellow dye for leather, &c. Syn. turri. (Kanuri kurgum, Arabic and Hebrew kurkum). cf. [zabibi].
gangame (Sok.), the expanded fronds of the palms [goriba] or [giginya], &c. Syn. kari (Kano); nearly the same as [kaba], q.v.
gangawari, the thickened root of a sedge or grass; one of the constant ingredients of the aphrodisiac [gagayi], q.v.