bio.wikisort.org - Plant

Phyllanthus emblica, also known as emblic,[2][4] emblic myrobalan,[2] myrobalan,[4] Indian gooseberry,[2][4] Malacca tree,[4] or amla,[4] from the Sanskrit आमलकी (āmalakī), is a deciduous tree of the family Phyllanthaceae. Its native range is tropical and southern Asia.[5]

Phyllanthus emblica
Plant
Fruit
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Phyllanthaceae
Genus:	Phyllanthus
Species:	P. emblica
Binomial name
Phyllanthus emblica L.[2]
Synonyms[3]
Cicca emblica (L.) Kurz Diasperus emblica (L.) Kuntze Dichelactina nodicaulis Hance Emblica arborea Raf. Emblica officinalis Gaertn. Phyllanthus glomeratus Roxb. ex Wall. nom. inval. Phyllanthus mairei H.Lév. Phyllanthus mimosifolius Salisb. Phyllanthus taxifolius D.Don

Plant morphology and harvesting

The tree is small to medium in size, reaching 1–8 m (3 ft 3 in – 26 ft 3 in) in height. The branchlets are not glabrous or finely pubescent, 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) 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 (1.0 in) in diameter, and, while the fruit of wild plants weigh approximately 5.5 g (0.19 oz), cultivated fruits average 28.4 g (1.00 oz) to 56 g (2.0 oz)[6]

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”[7]

Half an amalaka 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".[8] 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.[9]

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.[10]

Traditional medicine

In Ayurveda, dried and fresh fruits of the plant are used as a common constituent.[11][12]

Chemical constituents

These fruits contain high amounts of ascorbic acid (vitamin C),[13] and have a bitter taste that may derive from a high density of ellagitannins,[11] such as emblicanin A (37%), emblicanin B (33%), punigluconin (12%), and pedunculagin (14%).[14] Amla also contains punicafolin and phyllanemblinin A, phyllanemblin other polyphenols, such as flavonoids, kaempferol, ellagic acid, and gallic acid.[11][15]

Gallery

• 
  Amla at the top of the Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar
• 
  Hand of a standing Buddha statue holding a myrobalan
• 
  Seed
• 
  Fruits
• 
  Leaves
• 
  Trunk and main branches, highlighting mottled bark
• 
  Amla juice
• 
  Amala in Bhopal Madhya Pradesh
• 
  Amala Size comparison

See also

• Emblicanin
• Triphala, an Ayurvedic mixture containing amla

References

External links

• Media related to Phyllanthus emblica at Wikimedia Commons

На других языках

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[de] Amlabaum

Der Amlabaum oder Amblabaum (Phyllanthus emblica, Synonym: Emblica officinalis, über persisch āmlah von altindisch amālaki)[1] ist eine tropische Pflanze aus der Familie der Phyllanthaceae. Umgangssprachlich ist er auch unter den Namen Indische Stachelbeere, Myrobalanenbaum oder Myrobalan bekannt. Seine Frucht wird entweder als Indische Stachelbeere oder kurz als Amla bezeichnet.

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- [en] Phyllanthus emblica

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[es] Phyllanthus emblica

Phyllanthus emblica L. en español grosellero de la India, también denominado mirobálano émblico[1][2][3][4] y en ocasiones sarandí.[5][6] Nombres comunes de este árbol en su zona de origen son amalaka en sánscrito, amla (आँवला) en hindi, amlaki (আমলকী) en bengalí, nellikkai (நெல்லிக்காய்) en kannada y tamil, mala en lengua nepalí, ma kham bom en Tailandia y Laos. Pertenece a la familia filantáceas, se encuentra en las regiones tropicales y subtropicales de Asia.

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[fr] Phyllanthus emblica

Myrobolan emblique, Groseillier de Ceylan

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[ru] Эмблика

Эмблика (лат. Phyllanthus emblica, syn. Emblica officinalis) — плодовое дерево, один из видов рода Филлантус. Другие названия: амла, амалаки, индийский крыжовник, эмблик, миробалан серый.

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