Aegle marmelos

Common Names:

in English: bael fruit, bael fruit of India, bael tree, bel fruit, bel tree, Bengal quince, golden apple, Indian bael fruit, Indian quince, stone apple, wood apple

in Burma: okshit, opesheet

in Cambodia: bnau

in China: mu ju

in India: adhararuha, akuvakananmeccumilai, alluram, alukam, aluvigam, aluvikam, anincil, aranpucaikkerramaram, arcanaiyati, aritaki, asholam, atimangaliya, bael, bael chakka, bael guda, bael patra, bael sripal, baela, baelada mara, bail guda, balva, beal, beel, beelgiri, beeley, bel, bel bitva, bel giri, bel kham, bel ki chhal, bel mool, bel-patra, bel patri, bel-thei, belapatre, belavina, belavina mara, belethi, belgiri, belgiri (bael), belguda, beli, bellapatre, bello, belmool, belmul, belo, belthei, belua, bil, bil kath, bila, bilapatri, bilapatri-hannu, bili, biligarbha, biligiris, biliptari, billa, billadu, bilpathra majja, bilpathre, bilpatre, bilpatre beru, bilpatri, bilpattiri, bilva, bilva mool, bilva-pandu, bilva patre, bilva pathre, bilvachettu, bilvah, bilvam, bilvamu, bilvapandu, bilvapatre, bilvaphalam, bilwa, bilwamool, bivalva, byaalada hannu, capalukam, catapalam, catippattiram, cattal, chalbel, cirettamaruntati, ciripalam, ciripalamaram, cirivirutcam, civankam, civattirumaram, civattiruvam, civatturumam, covalam, covalum, duraruha, gandhagarbha, gandhapatra, gohki, granthila, guda belgiri taza, heikhagog, heirikhagok, hridyagandha, iyalbudi, iyalpu, iyalpupati, iyalputi, kantakadhya, kantaki, kantapalai, kantapattiram, kapitana, karkatam, karkatavha, karuvila, karuvilakikamaram, karuvilakitam, karuvilam, katori, kentakakarpam, kentapattiram, koovalakkayu, koovalam, koovalathila, koovilam, kovalam, kovaritaki, kucapi, kulakam, kumbala, kuvalam, kuvalap-pazham, kuvilai, kuvilam, kuvilam palam, kuvinam, kuvvalam, lakshmiphala, maalaaramu, mado, mahaka, mahaka-marra, mahakapitha, mahakapithakhya, mahaphala, mahaphalah, maika, makakapittam, makapalai, makapalam, makapittam, makavali, makavalimaram, makavalli, malura, malurah, maluram, maluramaram, maluramu, mangalya, maradu chattu, maraedu, maredi, maredu, maruntirkati, mavilamaram, mavilavu, mikuttikam, mikuttikamaram, mikuttiyal, mirutiyal, mirutiyam, mirutiyamaram, mulamukkanai, munkalantavirutcatti, mutantamuli, muvilaicci, navacikaram, nilamalikkam, nilamallika, nimilaiccattumuli, ninmalli, nirmatalam, pacunakam, pacunakamaram, patir, patrashreshtha, pattiracirettam, pattiri, piracinapanacam, pitapalam, pitaphala, pukku, pukkuli, pukkulimaram, putiiratam, putimarutam, putimarutamaram, putivakam, putivata,

putivatam, puttiru, sadaphala, safarjale-hindi, safarjalehindi, sailusa, sailusah, sailushamu, salatuh, samirasara, sandiliyamu, sandilya, sandilyah, sangrahi, satyadharma, satyaphala, shailapatra, shailusha, shalatu, shalya, shandiliyamu, shandilya, shivadruma (Shiva, Lord Shiva, druma, tree, plant), shiveshtha, shreephalamu, shriphala, shul, si-phal, sinja, siriphal, sirphal, sitanuna, sivadruma (= the tree of Lord Siva), sivadrumah, sri-phal, sriphal, sriphala, sriphalah, sriphalamu, sunitika, sunmo, thaplia-araung, tiricakam, tiricakamaram, tiricam, tiricikam, tirucam, tripatra, trishakhapatra, trishikha, ushitben, vailavam, valaga, vanamuli, vatacaram, vatam, vatamaram, vel, viccanniyam, viccanniyamaram, vil, villai, villankam, villuvam, villvam, vilva, vilva-pazham, vilvah, vilvaka, vilvam, vilvapesika, vilvappu, vilwam, virinikamaram, virinka, virutiyakentam, viyalputi

in Indonesia: madja, maja, maja batu

in Laos: toum

Malayan names: bel, bila, bilak, maja

in Nepal: bel

in Newari: bya

in Philippines: bael

in Sanskrit: mahaphala, shaibapatra

in Thailand: ma pin, ma tum, matum, pha nong, tum

in Tibetan: bi lva, bil-ba, ka-bed-mo, se-yab

in Vietnam: trái mam

Floral Description:

According to Flora of Pakistan:

Tree, c. 6 m tall, with spines c. 15 mm long, single or paired. Leaves petiolate. sparsely white pubescent; leaflets 3-5, the lower 2 subsessibie, ovate-lanceolate, subcrenulate, obtuse. Flowers greenish-white, fragrant. Pedicels pubescent. Sepals c. 3 mm, pubescent, deciduous. Petals 13 mm, oblong, fleshy, spreading. Stamens c. 50, free or in fascicles, filaments subulate. Ovary 10-22-locular; stigma capitate. Fruit 5-10 cm in diameter, greenish-yellow or greenish, globose to pyriform; rind 3 mm thick; pulp pale orange, mucilaginous, aromatic. Seeds flat, oblong, densely woolly, embedded in transparent sticky gum.

Distribution: Sub-Himalayan tract, from Jhelum eastward, Salt Range and lower Baluchistan, Burma, Indo-China, at ± 1200 m alt.

The ‘bengal quince’ is frequently cultivated in the plains for its fruit. The pulp of fresh fruit can be used for making jams or sherbet. Dried pulp is used medicinally for the treatment for diarrhoea and dysentery. Also used in paints.

According to Flora of China

Trees to 10 m tall; spines to 3 cm. Leaflet blades ovate to elliptic, 4-12 × 2-6 cm, base rounded to narrowly cuneate, margin crenulate, apex acuminate or sometimes acute. Calyx lobes ca. 1 mm. Petals white, ca. 1 cm. Stamens nearly as long as petals. Gynoecium ca. 6 mm. Fruit greenish yellow, 10-12 × 6-8 cm; mesocarp ca. 3 mm thick. Seeds ca. 8 mm. Fr. Oct. 2n = 18, 36.

Cultivated in forests on slightly dry hillsides; 600-1000 m. S and SW Yunnan [native to India]. This species is used medicinally.

Pharmacological Activities and Uses

Root as antidote, antivenom; contact therapy, or touch therapy, root tied to the arm to prevent cholera. Fruit, leaves and root used in the form of powder, juice and decoction to treat diarrhea, dysentery, sprue, piles, edema, jaundice, vomiting, obesity, eye diseases, fever. Unripe fruit astringent, digestive, stomachic, used to cure diarrhea and chronic dysentery. Fruit ash mixed with water and applied on forehead for headache; ripe fruits eaten for constipation; fruit of Aegle marmelos ground together with the leaves of Adhatoda vasica, roots of Cyperus rotundus, boiled and taken in menstrual disorders; fruit pulp given for the treatment of spermatorrhea. Mature fruit and seed botanical pesticides, used for fungal infections of fruit crops. Poultice of leaves used in eye and skin diseases; leaves fried in ghee and made into a paste applied for healing wounds and cuts; leaves juice antidiabetic; leaves for alcoholic hepatitis; tender leaves macerated taken for dysentery. Bark and leaves against intermittent fever. Veterinary medicine, fruit decoction given orally in tympany; leaf juice against foot-and-mouth disease in cattle; crushed leaves applied and bound in bone fracture; ashes of the leaves used to kill worms of animal wounds; leaf paste mixed with turmeric applied in boils, blisters, ulcers and wounds; leaf paste used as eye drops for opacity of cornea; leaves juice of Coix lacryma-jobi with leaf juice of Aegle marmelos given as purgative; leaves of Aegle marmelos with leaves of Vitex negundo boiled in water and the warm extract given orally in retained placenta. Fruit pulp, stem bark and root to poison fish.

Chemical Constitutes:

(+)-Lyoniresinol, (+)-Marmesin, 7-Hydroxycoumarin, Aesculetin dimethyl ether, Allocryptopine, Alloimperatorin, Auraptene, Dictamine, Ethyl phenylacetate, gamma-Fagarine, Imperatorin, Integriquinolone, Lupenol, Marmin, Xanthotoxin, Xanthotoxol.