''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, aft ...
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 ...
. 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, ...
. 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, by the twenty first Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, 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 ...
, named Phussa Buddha.
Traditional uses
Culinary use
The amla fruit is eaten raw or cooked into various dishes, such as ''dal
In Indian cuisine, ''dal'' (also spelled ''daal'' or ''dhal''; pronunciation: , Hindi: दाल, Urdu: ) are dried, split pulses (e.g., lentils, peas, and beans) that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of pu ...
'' (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, Toba, ...
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 repo ...
, 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) an ...
(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 group ...
s, such as emblicanin A (37%), emblicanin B (33%), punigluconin
Punigluconin is an ellagitannin, a polyphenol compound. It is found in the bark of ''Punica granatum'' (pomegranate) and in '' Emblica officinalis''. It is a molecule having a hexahydroxydiphenic acid group and two gallic acid
Gallic acid (also ...
(12%), and pedunculagin
Pedunculagin is an ellagitannin. It is formed from casuarictin via the loss of a gallate group.
Natural occurrence
Pedunculagin is found in plants in orders in the clade Rosidae. It can be found the pericarp of pomegranates (''Punica granatum ...
(14%). Amla also contains punicafolin
Punicafolin is an ellagitannin from the leaves of ''Punica granatum'' (pomegranate) and in ''Phyllanthus emblica
''Phyllanthus emblica'', also known as emblic, emblic myrobalan, myrobalan, Indian gooseberry, Malacca tree, or amla, from the Sans ...
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 of ...
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 ob ...
, 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. It i ...
.
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 is ...
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
* 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
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