Bedouin Ethnobotany: Plant Concepts and Uses in a Desert Pastoral World

Generics and Subgenerics: A Descriptive List

chapter 6 Generics and Subgenerics A Descriptive List ths chapter ges a list of all folk generic and subgeneric names arranged under the broader folk categories that include them. A list of the same plants arranged by scientific plant families can be found as appendix C on the CD inside the back cover of this book. The presentation here is given according to the following outline, with groups listed in the numerical order indicated: 1. Life form shajar1 (all perennials) 2. Sub–life form shajar2 (true trees and shrubs taller than man height) 3. Intermediate: ‘i�ah (trees and large shrubs with thorns) 4. Sub–life form shima‘ (bushes well shorter than man height) 5. Intermediate ham� (saltbushes) 6. Complex tahamij (salt marsh succulents) 7. All nonham� bushes 8. Intermediate khillah (nonham� bushes often browsed by livestock) 9. Nonham� bushes seldom or never browsed by or unimportant for livestock 10. Residual group of perennials smaller than bush size 11. Life form ‘ishb (all annual plants) 12. Unaffiliated generics 13. Generics of unknown life form Within each category, the arrangement is English alphabetical, ignoring diacritical marks. Folk specifics, when present, are listed under their respective generics. Constituents of each entry are: 1. The folk generic name followed in parentheses by the name(s) of the tribe(s) of the consultants who provided the name. The abbreviation gen. in parentheses (gen.) indicates a name known with some confidence to genercs and subgenercs 241 be in general use by multiple tribes of the study area. The provision of a tribal source for a name, however, does not preclude the possibility that the name might be in more general use. 2. For analyzable names, an English gloss of the lexeme and its constituents . In some cases, I have also added a discussion of the generic or subgeneric name’s range of application. Variants and synonyms are listed, with glosses when analyzable. In general, forms based on the same linguistic root are called variants; those from different roots are called synonyms. 3. The scientific names of the taxon or taxa concerned and the botanical family. These names are followed by a listing of the author’s specimen numbers with standard herbarium designators for their locations: BM, Natural History Museum, London; DAO, Agriculture and AgriFood Canada, Ottawa; E, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh; K, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K.; LE, Komarov Botanical Institute, Leningrad . Specimen numbers without herbarium designators are in the author’s personal herbarium. The number of specimens cited for each taxon is limited to a maximum of three, although the number of collections for the majority of species is considerably greater. 4. A brief description of the plant or plants, generally a shortened version of the technical botanical description in Mandaville 1990. 5. A brief mention of the cultural significance of the folk taxon when applicable. More detailed cultural information is found in other sections of this study. 6. References to any illustrations of the plant in this book, including illustrations in the accompanying CD. Illustrations numbered “CD” (e.g., “CD.271”) are found only on the CD in the back pocket and not in the printed pages. A few illustrations are found in both text and CD. Arabic names taken from the literature are rewritten in my transliteration system and thus have spellings that in most cases do not match the originals. Scientific nomenclature in older literature references has been updated to currently preferred forms, but without, in many cases, citation of the originals or of other synonymy. It should be noted that most generics here are in the form of the Arabic nomen generis, the collective form regularly used for plant and some animal names. The singular (or technically the nomen unitatis) is formed by adding the feminine singular suffix -ah. Thus, athl refers to the tamarisk tree Tamarix aphylla in general as a “kind,” and athlah refers to a single 242 genercs and subgenercs tamarisk tree. A few names (such as msekah, gtenah) tend to carry the -ah suffix in both collective and singular forms. There is some ambiguity about the vocalization of a few names that historically, in classical Arabic, have -á terminations (the alif maqsurah) on forms based on “strong” triliteral or quadriliteral roots, such as khuzamá, shiqará, ‘alandá. I generally heard such terminations as a simple short -a, but there were indications sometimes of a lengthening, particularly from Al Murrah...