Amalaki
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''Phyllanthus emblica'', also known as emblic, emblic myrobalan, myrobalan, Indian gooseberry, Malacca tree, or amla, from the Sanskrit आमलकी (āmalakī), is a
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
tree of the family
Phyllanthaceae Phyllanthaceae is a family of flowering plants in the eudicot order Malpighiales. It is most closely related to the family Picrodendraceae.Kenneth J. Wurdack and Charles C. Davis. 2009. "Malpighiales phylogenetics: Gaining ground on one of the m ...
. Its native range is tropical and southern Asia.


Plant morphology and harvesting

The tree is small to medium in size, reaching in height. The branchlets are not glabrous or finely pubescent, 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 in diameter, and, while the fruit of wild plants weigh approximately , cultivated fruits average to Ripening in autumn, the berries are harvested by hand after climbing to upper branches bearing the fruits. The taste of Indian emblic is sour, bitter and astringent, and it is quite fibrous.


Buddhist symbolism

In the Buddhist tradition there are many references to the fruit of the emblic myrobalan. In the Śatapañcāśatka, 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
amalaka An amalaka ( sa, आमलक), is a segmented or notched stone disk, usually with ridges on the rim, that sits on the top of a Hindu temple's shikhara or main tower. According to one interpretation, the amalaka represents a lotus, and thus the ...
fruit was the final gift to the Buddhist sangha by the great Indian emperor
Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...
. This is illustrated in the
Ashokavadana The Ashokavadana ( sa, अशोकावदान; ; "Narrative of Ashoka") is an Indian Sanskrit-language text that describes the birth and reign of the Third Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. It contains legends as well as historical narratives, and ...
in the following verses: "A great donor, the lord of men, the eminent Maurya Ashoka, has gone from being lord of Jambudvipa
he continent He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
to being lord of half a myrobalan". In
Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
, this plant is said to have been used as the tree for achieving enlightenment, or
Bodhi The English term enlightenment is the Western translation of various Buddhist terms, most notably bodhi and vimutti. The abstract noun ''bodhi'' (; Sanskrit: बोधि; Pali: ''bodhi''), means the knowledge or wisdom, or awakened intellec ...
, by the twenty first
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
, named
Phussa Buddha According to Theravada Buddhism's Pali canon's Buddhavamsa and its commentary, Phussa is the twenty-first of twenty-seven Buddhas who preceded the historical Gotama Buddha. He was also the second Buddha of the Maṇḍa kalpa. Malalasekera ( ...
.


Traditional uses


Culinary use

The amla fruit is eaten raw or cooked into various dishes, such as '' dal'' (a lentil preparation) and ''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 Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Tob ...
area of
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
, Indonesia, the inner bark is used to impart an astringent, bitter taste to the broth of a traditional fish soup known as ''holat''.


Traditional medicine

In
Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...
, dried and fresh fruits of the plant are used as a common constituent.


Chemical constituents

These fruits contain high amounts of
ascorbic acid Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) ...
(vitamin C), and have a
bitter taste The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...
that may derive from a high density of
ellagitannin The ellagitannins are a diverse class of hydrolyzable tannins, a type of polyphenol formed primarily from the oxidative linkage of galloyl groups in 1,2,3,4,6-pentagalloyl glucose. Ellagitannins differ from gallotannins, in that their galloyl ...
s, such as
emblicanin Emblicanins are a type of polyphenol found in Indian gooseberry ''Phyllanthus emblica'', also known as emblic, emblic myrobalan, myrobalan, Indian gooseberry, Malacca tree, or amla, from the Sanskrit आमलकी (āmalakī), is a deciduous t ...
A (37%), emblicanin B (33%), punigluconin (12%), and pedunculagin (14%). Amla also contains punicafolin and phyllanemblinin A, phyllanemblin other
polyphenol Polyphenols () are a large family of naturally occurring organic compounds characterized by multiples of phenol units. They are abundant in plants and structurally diverse. Polyphenols include flavonoids, tannic acid, and ellagitannin, some ...
s, such as
flavonoid Flavonoids (or bioflavonoids; from the Latin word ''flavus'', meaning yellow, their color in nature) are a class of polyphenolic secondary metabolites found in plants, and thus commonly consumed in the diets of humans. Chemically, flavonoids ...
s,
kaempferol Kaempferol (3,4′,5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone) is a natural flavonol, a type of flavonoid, found in a variety of plants and plant-derived foods including kale, beans, tea, spinach, and broccoli. Kaempferol is a yellow crystalline solid with a meltin ...
,
ellagic acid Ellagic acid is a polyphenol found in numerous fruits and vegetables. It is the dilactone of hexahydroxydiphenic acid. Name The name comes from the French term ''acide ellagique'', from the word ''galle'' spelled backwards because it can be ...
, and
gallic acid Gallic acid (also known as 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid) is a trihydroxybenzoic acid with the formula C6 H2( OH)3CO2H. It is classified as a phenolic acid. It is found in gallnuts, sumac, witch hazel, tea leaves, oak bark, and other plants ...
.


Gallery

File:Lingaraj Temple, Bhubaneswar (4) - Oct 2010.jpg, Amla at the top of the
Lingaraj temple Lingaraja Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva and is one of the oldest temples in Bhubaneswar, the capital of the Indian state of Odisha, India. The temple is the most prominent landmark of Bhubaneswar city and one of the major tourist ...
in
Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar i ...
File:Buddha statue holding a myrobalan.jpg, Hand of a standing
Buddha statue Much Buddhist art uses depictions of the historical Buddha, Gautama Buddha, which are known as Buddharūpa (literally, "Form of the Awakened One") in Sanskrit and Pali. These may be statues or other images such as paintings. The main figure i ...
holding a myrobalan File:油甘果種子.jpg, Seed File:油甘果實.jpg, Fruits File:Indian gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica syn Emblica officinalis) new leaves at Jayanti, Duars, West Bengal W Picture 039.jpg, Leaves File:Indian gooseberry bark.jpg, Trunk and main branches, highlighting mottled bark File:Amla juice.jpg, Amla juice Amala in Madhya Pradesh 2.jpg, Amala in
Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
Madhya Pradesh Amala in Madhya Pradesh 4.jpg, Amala Size comparison


See also

*
Emblicanin Emblicanins are a type of polyphenol found in Indian gooseberry ''Phyllanthus emblica'', also known as emblic, emblic myrobalan, myrobalan, Indian gooseberry, Malacca tree, or amla, from the Sanskrit आमलकी (āmalakī), is a deciduous t ...
*
Triphala Triphala ("three fruits") is an Ayurvedic herbal rasayana formula consisting of equal parts of three myrobalans, taken without seed: Amalaki (''Phyllanthus emblica''), Bibhitaki (''Terminalia bellirica''), and Haritaki (''Terminalia chebula''). ...
, an Ayurvedic mixture containing amla


References


External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q310050
emblica ''Phyllanthus emblica'', also known as emblic, emblic myrobalan, myrobalan, Indian gooseberry, Malacca tree, or amla, from the Sanskrit आमलकी (āmalakī), is a deciduous tree of the family Phyllanthaceae. Its native range is tropical a ...
Berries Flora of China Flora of tropical Asia Indian spices Plants described in 1753 Plants used in Ayurveda Spices Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Trees in Buddhism