Botanical Name :Aegle marmelos .
Family: Rutaceae
Subfamily: Aurantioideae
Tribe: Clauseneae
Genus: Aegle
Species: A. marmelos
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Sapindales
Common Name :Bael, Belgiri, Bel, Bilva, Bilpatri, sriphal
Local Common Names in South-East Asia:
* Burmese: Oushi
Indonesian: Maja
Khmer: Pniv
Lao: Maktum
Malay: pokok maja batu (tree)
Thai: Matuum
Indian Subcontinent
Assamese: Bael
Hindi: Sriphal
Urdu: Bael or sriphal
Oriya:Baela
Bengali: Bael
Kannada: bilva (sacred variety)
Konkani: gorakamli
Malayalam: koo-valam
Marathi: Kaveeth
Punjabi: Beel
Sanskrit : Billa
Sinhalese: Beli
Tamil: Vilvam
Telugu: Maredu
Sir Phal (old Hindi)
Habitat :Native to India and Pakistan. It has since spread to throughout South-east Asia. It is a gum-bearing tree.
It is is indigenous to dry forests on hills and plains of northern, central and southern India, southern Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. It is cultivated throughout India, as well as in Sri Lanka, northern Malay Peninsula, Java in the Philippines and Fiji Islands
Very useful fruit for all kinds of stomach disorder
Flesh is eaten raw or processed into drinks.Fruit pulp is sometimes used as detergent and adhesive.Ripe pulp is used as a digestive aid and a very good laxative.Unripe pulp is used to treat diarrhea and dysentery.Fibre content of the pulp, whether ripen or green is very high. All other parts of the plant are used for a wide variety of medicinal purpose.Beal leafs are used by Hindus in their worship.Several Ayurvedic medicines are made from most of the parts of the plant.
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Plant Cultivation:
Medium sized tree to 40ft. The bael fruit is slow growing but very tough for a subtropical tree, surviving a wide temperature range from 20-120F. It easily withstands long periods of drought, which are needed for better fruit yields. It grows in most soil and climate types, and requires little care when established. Fruits take 10-12 months to ripen from flowering.
Propagation: Usually by seed. Seedling trees bear within 6+ years
Origin and Distribution:
Native to central and southern and northern India,Pakistan,Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Burma.But only in very few places perhaps it is commercially grown.
Several variety of wood apples grow in India, but two types are very popular, one is Yellow beal(Feronia limonia), sweet when ripen and the other is Kod beal(Banglapedia) sweet and sower when ripen. But both of them have tremendous medicinal value
Many pharmaceutical companies are now a days doing extensive research on this fruit and its plant.
USES :
Medicinal Uses: The fruit is much used in India as a liver and cardiac tonic, and, when unripe, as an astringent means of halting diarrhea and dysentery and effective treatment for hiccough, sore throat and diseases of the gums. The pulp is poulticed onto bites and stings of venomous insects, as is the powdered rind.
Juice of young leaves is mixed with milk and sugar candy and given as a remedy for biliousness and intestinal troubles of children. The powdered gum, mixed with honey, is given to overcome dysentery and diarrhea in children.
Oil derived from the crushed leaves is applied on itch and the leaf decoction is given to children as an aid to digestion. Leaves, bark, roots and fruit pulp are all used against snakebite. The spines are crushed with those of other trees and an infusion taken as a remedy for menorrhagia. The bark is chewed with that of Barringtonia and applied on venomous wounds.
The unripe fruits contain 0.015% stigmasterol. Leaves contain stigmasterol (0.012%) and bergapten (0.01%). The bark contains 0.016% marmesin. Root bark contains aurapten, bergapten, isopimpinellin and other coumarins.
Dirrhoea & Dysentery:– The half-ripe beal fruit is perhaps the most effective remedy for these diseases .
Respiratory Disorders:– A medicated oil prepared from beal leaves gives relief from recurrent cold and respiratory affections.A tea spoonful of this oil should be massaged into the scalp before a head bath.It’s regular use builds the resistance of cold and coughs.
Peptic Ulcer:- An infusion of beal leaves is an effective remedy for this disease.Beal leaves are reach in tannin which reduces inflammation and help in the healing of ulcers.
Earache:- The root of the beal tree is used as a domestic remedy to check several kinds of ear problem.A stiff piece of beal fruit is dipped in neam oil and lighted.The oil and the drips of the burning end is a highly effective medicine for problems related to ears.
PRECAUTIONS:The ripped beal fruit should not be taken regularly. It’s regular use produces atomy of the intensives and consequent flautence in the abdomen. The excessive use of beal fruit may produce sensation of heaviness in the stomach. The sherbet (Juice with water) made of beal fruit can produce heavyness in the stomach if it is taken hurriedly.
Food Uses:
The rind must be cracked with a hammer. The scooped-out pulp, though sticky, is eaten raw with or without sugar, or is blended with coconut milk and palm-sugar sirup and drunk as a beverage, or frozen as an ice cream. It is also used in chutneys and for making jelly and jam. The jelly is purple and much like that made from black currants.
A bottled nectar is made by diluting the pulp with water, passing through a pulper to remove seeds and fiber, further diluting, straining, and pasteurizing. A clear juice for blending with other fruit juices, has been obtained by clarifying the nectar with Pectinol R-10. Pulp sweetened with sirup of cane or palm sugar, has been canned and sterilized. The pulp can be freeze-dried for future use but it has not been satisfactorily dried by other methods.
Food Value Per 100 g of Edible Pulp*
Pulp………………… (ripe)…….. …Seeds
Moisture…………… 74.0%…….. 4.0%
Protein……………….. 8.00%…… 26.18%
Fat…………………….. 1.45%…… 27%
Carbohydrates…… 7.45%…… 35.49%
Ash…………………….. 5.0%…….. 5.03%
Calcium…………….. 0.17%……. 1.58%
Phosphorus………….. 0.08%……. 1.43%
Iron…………………….. 0.07%……. 0.03%
Tannins………………. 1.03%……. 0.08%
*According to analyses made in India.
The pulp represents 36% of the whole fruit. The pectin content of the pulp is 3 to 5% (16% yield on dry-weight basis). The seeds contain a bland, non-bitter, oil high in unsaturated fatty acids.
Other Uses:
Pectin: The pectin has potential for multiple uses in pectin-short India, but it is reddish and requires purification.
Rind: The fruit shell is fashioned into snuffboxes and other small containers.
Gum: The trunk and branches exude a white, transparent gum especially following the rainy season. It is utilized as a substitute for, or adulterant of, gum arabic, and is also used in making artists’ watercolors, ink, dyes and varnish. It consists of 35.5% arabinose and xylose, 42.7% d-galactose, and traces of rhamnose and glucuronic acid.
Wood: The wood is yellow-gray or whitish, hard, heavy, durable, and valued for construction, pattern-making, agricultural implements, rollers for mills, carving, rulers, and other products. It also serves as fuel.
The heartwood contains ursolic acid and a flavanone glycoside, 7-methylporiol-b-D-xylopyranosyl-D-glucopyranoside.
Click to learn more about-> Wood apple tree[Aegle marmelos Corr. (Rutaceae)]
You may click tolearn more about the plant
Research:
Research has found the essential oil of the Bael tree to be effective against 21 types of bacteria. It is prescribed for smooth bowel movement to patients suffering from constipation and other gastrointestinal problems.
Research also indicates that unripe Bael fruit is effective in combating giardia and rotavirus. While unripe Bael fruit did not show antimicrobial properties, it did inhibit bacteria adherence to and invasion of the gut (i.e. the ability to infect the gut).
Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider
Resources:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/wood-apple.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bael
http://www.payer.de/manu/manu02036.htm
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