NATURAL HISTORY VOCARITLARY 53 



ou <a single tall stalk 4 feet 

 high. 



llakpa (hiikpe) . Any plant used for food. Usually 



in plural. 



llale-lifii (hale-life) . . Any plant used for medicine. 



(Hale = medicine ; tifa (lifa) = 

 plant.) 



Hausa-l)o\va. (hausa- Lit. The Hausas" flower. A fancy 



bowe) name given by the blendes. 



Not in the Mende country. 

 A plant that spreads on the 

 ground chiefly on the road, 

 with troul)lesome prickly 

 " flowers " which stick into the 

 feet. (? Com2iositae.) 



Hegu (hegui) .... A reed in swamps. About 3 feet 



high. Tall hollow single stalk 

 with a rusty cluster of seed 

 stalks at head. 



Helo (heloi) .... A plant. Leaf 1 x i inch, serrated 



edge. Tiny yellow flowers. 



Hondi (hondi) ... A tall reddish plant with seeds in 



a flowering head like millet, 

 but small. Leaf 2 x J inches, 

 ribs red. Used in making 

 soup. Sierra Leone English — 

 " pla.'^sass," but plassass may 

 be any edible plant. 



Hnwo (howi) or Hnwa A plant or reed. Leaves 8x3 

 (howe) inches, stiff, smooth. Flower 



head a cluster of white flowers, 

 but sometimes yellow ; scent- 

 less, like fox-glove. Plant in 

 appearance like the Guinea- 

 grain. When people die it is 

 laid under them. When twins 

 are born it is laid by an ant- 

 hill (kokoi). {I Co4us sp.) 



Kanda (kande) . . . The bitter cassava. Digitate leaves, 



and in appearance much like 

 Tange. The roots are poison- 



