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Ctenium elegans Kunth [family POACEAE]
Date Updated: 30 April 2005
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Burkill, H.M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol 2
Names
Ctenium elegans Kunth [family POACEAE]
Common names
SENEGAL: DIOLA dikãndapali (JB) MANDING-BAMBARA uluku (JB) SERER lab a koy (JB) yagon (JB) WOLOF rev (JB) rov (JB) GUINEA-BISSAU: PEPEL undáte (JDES; EPdS) GUINEA: BASARI ε-nókolч̀mb perhaps this sp. (FG&G) MALI: DOGON sàmu sáána (CG) MANDING-BAMBARA wolo kaman (JMD) NIGER: HAUSA chinaka (Bartha) SONGHAI bat kàaréy (pl. -á) = box of the white amulet (D&C) NIGERIA: FULA-FULFULDE (Nigeria) sinakaho (JMD) wicco dombru (JMD) wicco pallandi (JMD) wicco wanduho (JMD) HAUSA shinaka (auctt.) wútsíyàr бééráá = mouse’s tail (JMD; ZOG) wútsíyàr bírì = monkey’s tail (JMD; ZOG) wútsíyàr kádangare = house-lizard’s tail (JMD; ZOG) wútsíyàr kúúsùù = mouse’s tail (JMD; ZOG) KAMBARI-SALKA wε̃ẹ̃wẹ (pl. íiw-) (RB)
Uses
leaf Phytochemistry: aromatic substances Agri-horticulture: fodder Products: building materials Products: pulp and paper Products: beehives
Description
A densely tufted annual grass, with wiry culms, 1 m or more high, of dry sandy soils, across the Region from Senegal to N Nigeria, and also into Sudan.Records of stock grazing are ambiguous. In places it is taken, elsewhere not (2). The foliage is aromatic, described as smelling of citronella or lemon (3) which may account for cattle sometimes shunning it.The grass is used as thatch for huts (1, 5). Salka people in NW Nigeria make conical covers for beehives (4). In Ghana the grass is woven into baskets plastered over the exterior with cow dung. These are put into trees as beehives (3, 5). It has been tried for producing paper pulp (1, 5).
Notes
NOTE: Nigerian names apply also to Ctenium newtonii Hack and Schoenfeldia gracilis Kunth.
References
References:1. Adam, 1954: 90. 2. Adam, 1966,a. 3. Beal 16, K. 4. Blench, 1985. 5. Dalziel, 1937: 523.
Contributor
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Date Updated: 30 April 2005
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Burkill, H.M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol 2
Names
Ctenium elegans Kunth [family POACEAE]
Common names
SENEGAL: DIOLA dikãndapali (JB) MANDING-BAMBARA uluku (JB) SERER lab a koy (JB) yagon (JB) WOLOF rev (JB) rov (JB) GUINEA-BISSAU: PEPEL undáte (JDES; EPdS) GUINEA: BASARI ε-nókolч̀mb perhaps this sp. (FG&G) MALI: DOGON sàmu sáána (CG) MANDING-BAMBARA wolo kaman (JMD) NIGER: HAUSA chinaka (Bartha) SONGHAI bat kàaréy (pl. -á) = box of the white amulet (D&C) NIGERIA: FULA-FULFULDE (Nigeria) sinakaho (JMD) wicco dombru (JMD) wicco pallandi (JMD) wicco wanduho (JMD) HAUSA shinaka (auctt.) wútsíyàr бééráá = mouse’s tail (JMD; ZOG) wútsíyàr bírì = monkey’s tail (JMD; ZOG) wútsíyàr kádangare = house-lizard’s tail (JMD; ZOG) wútsíyàr kúúsùù = mouse’s tail (JMD; ZOG) KAMBARI-SALKA wε̃ẹ̃wẹ (pl. íiw-) (RB)
Uses
leaf Phytochemistry: aromatic substances Agri-horticulture: fodder Products: building materials Products: pulp and paper Products: beehives
Description
A densely tufted annual grass, with wiry culms, 1 m or more high, of dry sandy soils, across the Region from Senegal to N Nigeria, and also into Sudan.Records of stock grazing are ambiguous. In places it is taken, elsewhere not (2). The foliage is aromatic, described as smelling of citronella or lemon (3) which may account for cattle sometimes shunning it.The grass is used as thatch for huts (1, 5). Salka people in NW Nigeria make conical covers for beehives (4). In Ghana the grass is woven into baskets plastered over the exterior with cow dung. These are put into trees as beehives (3, 5). It has been tried for producing paper pulp (1, 5).
Notes
NOTE: Nigerian names apply also to Ctenium newtonii Hack and Schoenfeldia gracilis Kunth.
References
References:1. Adam, 1954: 90. 2. Adam, 1966,a. 3. Beal 16, K. 4. Blench, 1985. 5. Dalziel, 1937: 523.
Contributor
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
![Ctenium elegans Kunth [family POACEAE]](/fsi/img/misc/plants/static_thumbs/rt_upwta.png)
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