noun
sesame seeds; sesame plant
Refers to both the seeds and the plant. In everyday use, it most commonly means the seeds, especially in cooking.
サラダにごまをかける。
I sprinkle sesame seeds on the salad.
ごまはアフリカ原産の植物です。
Sesame is a plant native to Africa.
The word is of native Japanese origin. The kanji 胡麻 are ateji (phonetic characters) borrowed from Chinese, where they originally referred to the same plant.