W
wadda, Rauwolfia Welwitschii, Stapf. (Apocynaceæ); a tree somewhat resembling the shea-butter tree, with milky sap; (Benué district and south).
wa or ya (Sok.), Ficus sp. (Urticaceæ). A species of fig-tree with rounded cordate leaves and large single figs. wan kurumi, another species of Ficus.
waiyaro, vide ḳaguwa.
wake, Vigna sinensis, Endl. (V. Catjang, Walp.), and perhaps other species. The common cultivated bean of the country. Chowlee (India), Tow Kok (China).
Numerous varieties are recognized, some of them probably of different species:—
farin wake, and jan wake, waken damana;
ḳwama (Sok. and Gobir) = small brown beans usually given to horses but also used as human food;
tsarariya, also a brown bean, sometimes mottled;
zaḳo, mai zaḳi, or ba-zaḳa (Gobir), a well-flavoured bean which can be cooked without salt;
ḍan Uda, or Ba-Ude (Kano), a bean which is half black or brown and half white like a similarly marked variety of sheep (Udawa, a Fulani tribe); roko, also a piebald bean;
yaro da manda, a spotted black and white bean;
hannun marini, with a blue pod and seeds black-speckled;
ḍan kwoloje, a larger white bean;
ḍan arbain, planted in damp places and said to be ripe in 40 days after planting;
damana biyu or kaka biyu, perhaps the same as ḍan arbain, because two crops can be grown in one season;
ka nannaḍe, q.v. a brown-speckled bean in curled pods; bidi, also a speckled bean.
Beans are used as food in the following ways:—
1. Fresh leaves used as a vegetable or in soup.
2. Young pods eaten raw or cooked.
3. Beans eaten boiled; the husks given to cattle.
4. Tubani, dried beans pounded, kanwa added, tied up in folded palm or other leaf and boiled.
5. Ḍan wake, bean meal with kanwa boiled in lumps and balls, eaten with a soup or sauce of ground-nuts, salt, pepper, &c. (romon geḍa).
6. Ḳosai, dried beans soaked in cold water, ground moist, and then boiled in ground-nut oil and made into balls or dough-nuts; (mucilage of yoḍo, q.v. may be added for cohesion); ḳosai of beans nearly corresponds with kwalli kwalli of ground-nuts, and abakuru of kwaruru, q.v.
7. Wasa wasa, porridge of ground beans.
8. Maka (East Hausa), bean leaves dried and used in soup.
harawan wake = bean straw used as fodder.
kowar wake = bean pods or husks.
jimḅirin wake = immature bean pods used as a vegetable often uncooked.
The following saying is applied to the bean:—“na gazawa garkuwar maiḳi niḳa, ka ḳi fari uku, ka ḳi a gona, ka ḳi a tukunya, ka ḳi a chiki.” These are nicknames for the bean, which is both an unprofitable crop and an inconvenient and coarse kind of food, but the stranger goes home and describes them as novelties which he has seen—the bane of the indolent who will not take the trouble to grind it—in the field it occupies more space than its value—in the pot it requires long cooking—in the stomach it disagrees.
waken Ankwai, waken bisa, a large climbing bean, cultivated in some districts; probably the white-seeded var. of Canavalia ensiformis, DC. “Sword Bean,” vide under ḅarankachi. (Ankwai, a pagan tribe in Muri).
waken baibayi or waken Gwari, Dolichos Lablab, Linn. A cultivated climbing bean on fences, trees near houses, or on hut roofs, &c.; called also w. damfami, w. darni, &c.
waken barewa or waken damo, Vigna membranacea, A. Rich. and other spp. Wild twining beans in fields &c. vide gayan gayan. (Vigna vexillata, Benth. Vigna pubigera, Baker, &c.).
waken gizo, Vigna triloba, Walp. A bean twining on fences, &c. greatly resembling the common cultivated bean; eaten by goats, &c. The saying ka yi ḍiya ka watsas, is used of this (from the scattering of the seeds when the pods burst).
waken tumḳa, vide yawa.
waken Turawa or waken Masar, W. Stambul, &c. Cajanus indicus, Spreng. “Congo Pea,” “Pigeon Pea.” An erect shrub introduced for cultivation. A form of Indian “dal.”
walkin tsofo or walkin wawa, Trichodesma africanum, R. Br. (Boragineæ); a coarse herb with white flowers, common near villages, &c. (Etym. “old man’s” or “fool’s apron”).
wasa wasa, a food made of beans; vide under wake.
wayo, a var. of dawa, q.v.
wutar barewa, a species of fungus; vide under tumukun suri.
wuta wuta, vide ḳuduji.
wutsiyar ḅera, vide tsarkiyar kusu.
wutsiyar damo, vide karan masallachi.
wutsiyar giwa, vide gabara.
wutsiyar jaki, vide katsaimu.
wutsiyar ḳadangare, vide tsarkiyar kusu.
wutsiyar kurege or bundin kurege, a grass about 12 to 18 inches high, with a bottle-brush-like flowering spike. A name somewhat loosely applied, and including Trichopteryx hordeiformis, Stapf, and Perotis latifolia, Ait.
wutsiyar kusu or w. ḅera, vide tsarkiyar kusu and shinaka.
wutsiyar raḳumi, Platycoryne paludosa, Rolfe (Orchideæ). A small ground orchid with orange-coloured flowers. (Etym. from the long spur of the flower; probably applied to several orchids with spurred flowers).
wuyan bajimi, a var. of gero, q.v.
wuyan damo, Combretum leonense, Engl. and Diels. and perhaps other spp. (Combretaceæ). A tree with corrugated bark and 4-winged fruit; a gum yielder; bark used as an astringent medicine. (Etym. from the rough scaly bark resembling the skin of the large lizard, damo, Varanus exanthematicus).