Phyllanthus emblica

Description

The tree is small to medium in size, reaching 1-8 m in height. The bark is mottled. The branchlets are finely pubescent (not glabrous), 10–20 cm long, usually deciduous. The leaves are simple, subsessile and closely set along branchlets, light green, resembling pinnate leaves. The flowers are greenish–yellow. The fruit is nearly spherical, light greenish–yellow, quite smooth and hard on appearance, with six vertical stripes or furrows. The fruit is up to 26 mm in diameter, and, while the fruit of wild plants weigh approximately 5.5 g, cultivated fruits average 28.4 g to 56 g.

|Indian gooseberry bark.jpg|Trunk and main branches |Indian gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica syn Emblica officinalis) new leaves at Jayanti, Duars, West Bengal W Picture 039.jpg|Leaves |Indian gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica syn Emblica officinalis) at Jayanti, Duars, West Bengal W Picture 045.jpg|Budding and flowers |油甘果實.jpg|Fruits |Indian Gooseberry.jpg|Fruit size comparison |油甘果種子.jpg|Seed close-up

Chemical constituents

The fruits contain high amounts of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and have a bitter taste that may derive from a high density of ellagitannins, such as emblicanin A (37%), emblicanin B (33%), punigluconin (12%), and pedunculagin (14%).{{Cite journal

Uses

Ripening in autumn, the berries are harvested by hand after climbing to upper branches bearing the fruits. The taste is sour, bitter and astringent, and it is quite fibrous.

Culinary

The amla fruit may be eaten raw or cooked, and in South Asia, the fruit is often pickled with salt, oil, and spices. It is used as an ingredient in dishes including dal (a lentil preparation), and is also made into amle ka murabbah, a sweet dish made by soaking the berries in sugar syrup until they are candied. It is traditionally consumed after meals.

In the Batak area of Sumatra, Indonesia, the inner bark is used to impart an astringent, bitter taste to the broth of a traditional fish soup known as holat.

|Indian gooseberry pickle.png|Indian gooseberry pickle |Amla juice.jpg|Amla juice |Amla pickle.jpg|Amla murabba

Traditional medicine

In Ayurveda, dried and fresh fruits of the plant are used as a common constituent.

In culture

In the Buddhist tradition there are many references to the fruit of the emblic myrobalan. In the sa, Buddha's knowledge is described in a poetic simile: "O Bhagavan, the entire origination of all types of phenomena throughout time is within the range of your mind, like an ambalan fruit in the palm of your hand".

Half an amla fruit was the final gift to the Buddhist sangha by the great Indian emperor Ashoka. This is illustrated in the Ashokavadana in the following verses: "A great donor, the lord of men, the eminent Maurya Ashoka, has gone from being lord of Jambudvipa [the continent] to being lord of half a myrobalan". In Theravada Buddhism, this plant is said to have been used as the tree for achieving enlightenment, or Bodhi, by the twenty-first Buddha, named Phussa Buddha.

In Hinduism, the myrobalan, called the āmalaka in Sanskrit, is sacred to all three members of the Trimurti, the Hindu supreme trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. According to legend, during a religious gathering, Lakshmi, Vishnu's consort, expressed a desire to worship Shiva, while Parvati, Shiva's consort, wished to worship Vishnu. Moved by each other's piety, they shed tears upon the earth, from which emerged the first myrobalan trees. The Amalaka Ekadashi is a Hindu occasion dedicated to Vishnu, venerating the myrobalan.

|Lingaraj Temple, Bhubaneswar (4) - Oct 2010.jpg|Amalaka at the top of the Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar |Buddha statue holding a myrobalan.jpg|Hand of a standing Buddha statue holding a myrobalan |Amala in Madhya Pradesh 2.jpg|Amala in Bhopal Madhya Pradesh

References

References

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2. {{GRIN
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