gorli

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Is this word of African origin?”)

Noun

gorli

1. A tropical shrubby tree (Caloncoba echinata, formerly Oncoba echinata) with small white flowers and inedible greenish-yellow berries, used both as an ornamental shrub and for medicinal purposes.
   • 1924, United States. Public Health Service, Annual Report of the Surgeon General, page 53:

     Another small group has received the ethyl esters of the fatty acids of the oil expressed from the seed of the gorli tree, which contains more chaulmoogric acid and less hydnocarpic acid than does chaulmoogra oil . From a chemical standpoint, gorli oil should be a fair substitute for chaulmoogra oil in case of a shortage of the latter.

   • 2016, Maurice M. Iwu, Food as Medicine: Functional Food Plants of Africa:

     Gorli (Caloncoba echinata) is known for its characteristic small whitish flowers, borne in the axils of the leaves, and in clusters on common stalks, which are a few millimeters long.

Derived terms

• gorli oil
• gorlic
• gorlic acid