AEGLE MARMELOS

 AEGLE  MARMELOS  [ Stone apple /Japanese bitter Orange]

Most plants enjoy one or the other special value as food, vegetable, spice, flavouring agent [vanilla], garnishing stuff or medicine or as spiritual material [Rudraaksham]; but a few have places of pride as religious stuff [Thulasi, vilvam, Arasu as known by their names in Tamil]  The tree is sacred to Hindus and Buddhists alike .

Aegle marmelos is   [Vilvam =Tamil, Bel=Hindi ,Vilvam/Koovalam    =Malayalam, Bilvamu  = Telugu,  Bila= Kannada]. The plant is native to South east Asia and is believed to be native to India. The plant is described to be the lone member of the Genus –Aegle [monotypic genus] in Botanic par lance.

Quite a majestic tree is A.marmelos growing quite tall, widely branched bearing 3 leaves in a group.  In South India, the plant is often found in Shiva temples and seldom used as food stuff. Reports show that the fruit is used as a a source in making a drink [‘LEMONADE’]by using the fruit pulp. Processed fruit pulp is used in making Candy.

Chemical contents of A.maemelos include Furocoumarins,[Xanthotaxol], Flavonoids, Rutin and marmesin. Aegiline is extracted from the leaves.

Aeglemarmelosine –a viscous oil is extracted from fruit rind/leaves

Obviously, many ‘native medicines’ seem to be derived from Aegle marmelos across civilizations in addition to its ‘religious status’.