Aegle marmelos Correa

Indian names: maredu (Andhra Pradesh), bel (Bengal), bil (Gujrat), bael, bil (Himachal Pradesh), bael (Hindi), bilpatra, kumbala, malura (Karnatka), vilwam (Kerala), bilwa (Sanskrit), kuvalum (Tamil Nadu)

Aegle marmelos Correa is a sacred tree, dedicated to Lord Shiva. The offering of bael leaves is a compulsory ritual of the worship of Lord Shiva in the hills. This importance seems largely due to its medicinal properties. All parts of this tree, viz., root, leaf, trunk, fruit and seed, are used for curing one human ailment or another.

Bael is a handsome tree, native to northern India, but is found widely throughout the Indian peninsula and in Ceylon. Burma, Thailand and Indo-China (Bailey, 1963). It grows wild throughout the low hills of Himachal Pradesh, ascending up to 1,000 metres. The fruits of the wild trees are, however, considerably smaller than those of the cultivated types grown in the plains.

Morphology

A small to medium-sized aromatic tree, deciduous; stem and branches, light brown to green; strong axillary spines present on the branches; the average height of tree, 8.5 metres.

Leaves, alternate, pale green, trifoliate; terminal leaflet, 5.7 cm long, 2.8 cm broad, having a long petiole; the two lateral leaflets, almost sessile, 4.1 cm long, 2.2 cm wide, ovate to lanceolate having reticulate pinnate venation; petiole, 3.2 cm long.

Flowers, greenish white, sweetly scented, bisexual, actinomorpbic, ebracteate. hypogynous, stalked; stalk, 8 mm long; diameter of a fully open flower, 1.8 cal; flowers, borne in lateral panicles of about 10 flowers, arising from the leaf axil; calyx, gamosepalous, five-lobed, pubescent, light green, very small in comparison with petals; corolla polypetalous, with 5 petals, imbricate, leathery, pale yellow from above and green from beneath, length 4 mm; androecium, polyandrous, numerous, basifixed, 4 mm long, dehiscing longitudinally; gynoecium, light green, 7 mm long, having capitate stigma and terminal style.

Fruits, yellowish green, with small dots on the outer surface, oblong to globose, 5.3 cm to 7 2 cm in diameter; weight, 77.2 g; volume, 73.7 ml; pulp, yellow and mucilaginous, the pulp of dried fruits retains its yellow, and also remains intact; rind woody, 4 to 5 mm thick.

Seeds, numerous, embedded in the pulp, oblong, compressed, white, having cotton-like hairs on their outer surface.

The flowering and fruiting season

The flowering was observed to have taken place in Koti area (12 km from Kalka towards Simla) from the second fortnight of June to the first fortnight of July. The fruits take almost one year to mature. The peak fruiting season is during May and June.

Yield

Observations on the trees at Koti revealed that the average yield of a wild bael tree was 62.5 kg. which is quite good.

Chemical composition of the fruit

The fruit pulp contains 60.7 per cent moisture. The pulp contains 0.46 per cent acidity, 8.36 per cent total sugars, 6.21 per cent reducing sugars, 2.04 per cent non-reducing sugars and 0.21 per cent tannins. The pectin content is 2.52 per cent, which is quite high. The fruit pulp, however, is not a good source of vitamin C which is only 920 mg per 100 g of pulp

This fruit is a very good source of protein which is 5.12 per cent of the edible portion. The total mineral content of the edible portion, as represented by ash, is 2.663 per cent. The percentage content of some of the minerals, viz. phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron is 0.137, 0.746, 0.188, 0.127 and 0.007 respectively.

Medicinal properties

Watt (1889) reported the unripe dried fruit to be astringent, digestive and stomachic. According to him, they are prescribed to cure diarrhoea and dysentery. The ripe fruit is a good and simple cure for dyspepsia. The roots, and the bark of the tree are used in the treatment of fever by making a decoction of them. The leaves are made into a poultice and used in the treatments of ophthalmia. According to Dastur (1962), the rind of the ripe fruit is also sometimes used as a medicine.

The roots are sweet, cure the fevers caused by tridosho, stop pain in the abdomen, the palpitation of the heart, and allay urinary troubles. They are also useful in the disordes of vata, pitta and kapha (Kirtikar and Basu, 1935).

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