_Bela_; _Bael Fruit_, _Indian Bael_, _Bengal Quince_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Ægle Marmelos_[504] Correa (_Cratæva Marmelos_ L.),
a tree found in most parts of the Indian peninsula, which is often
planted in the neighbourhood of temples, being esteemed sacred by the
Hindus. It is truly wild in the forests of the Coromandel Ghâts and
of the Western Himalaya, ascending often to 4,000 feet and growing
gregarious when wild.
It attains a height of 30-40 feet, is usually armed with strong sharp
thorns and has trifid leaves, the central leaflet being petiolate and
larger than the lateral. The fruit is a large berry, 2 to 4 inches in
diameter, variable in shape, being spherical or somewhat flattened like
an orange, ovoid, or pyriform[505], having a smooth hard shell; the
interior divided into 10-15 cells each containing several woolly seeds,
consists of a mucilaginous pulp, which becomes very hard in drying. In
the fresh state the fruit is very aromatic, and the juicy pulp which it
contains has an agreeable flavour, so that when mixed with water and
sweetened, it forms a palatable refrigerant drink. The fruit is never
eaten as dessert, though its pulp is sometimes made into a preserve
with sugar.
The fruit of the wild tree is described as small, hard, and
flavourless, remaining long on the tree. The bark of the stem and root,
the flowers and the expressed juice of the leaves are used in medicine
by the natives of India.
=History=—The tree under the name of _Bilva_[506] is constantly alluded
to as an emblem of increase and fertility in ancient Sanskrit poems,
some of which as the Yajar Veda are supposed to have been written not
later than 1000 B.C.—Constantinus Africanus was acquainted with the
fruit under notice.
[503] Oribasius accurately describes the citron as a fruit consisting
of three parts, namely a central acid pulp, a thick and fleshy zest and
an aromatic outer coat.—_Medicinalia collecta_, lib. i. c. 64.
[504] _Ægle_, one of the Hesperides.—_Marmeloes_ from the Portuguese
_marmelo_, a quince.—Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, part 11.
[505] In the Botanical Garden of Buitenzorg in Java, three varieties
are grown, namely—_fructibus oblongis_, _fructibus subglobosis_, and
_macrocarpa_.
[506] We are indebted to Professor Monier Williams of Oxford for
pointing out to us many references to _Bilva_ in the Sanskrit writings.
Garcia de Orta, who resided in India as physician to the Portuguese
viceroy at Goa in the 16th century, wrote an account of the fruit
under the name of _Marmelos de Benguala_ (Bengal Quince) _Cirifole_ or
_Beli_[507], describing its use in dysentery.
In the following century it was noticed by Bontius, in whose writings
edited by Piso[508] there is a bad figure of the tree as _Malum
Cydonium_. It was also figured by Rheede,[509] and subsequently under
the designation of _Bilack_ or _Bilack tellor_ by Rumphius.[510] The
latter states that it is indigenous to Gujarat, the eastern parts of
Java, Sumbawa and Celebes, and that it has been introduced into Amboina.
But although _Ægle Marmelos_ has thus been long known and appreciated
in India, the use of its fruit as a medicine attracted no attention in
Europe till about the year 1850. The dried fruit which has a place in
the _British Pharmacopœia_ is now not unfrequently imported.
=Description=—We have already described the form and structure of the
fruit, which for medicinal use should be dried when in a half ripe
state. It is found in commerce in dried slices having on the outer side
a smooth greyish shell enclosing a hard, orange or red, gummy pulp in
which are some of the 10 to 15 cells existing in the entire fruit. Each
cell includes 6 to 10 compressed oblong seeds nearly 3 lines in length,
covered with whitish woolly hairs. When broken the pulp is seen to
be nearly colourless internally, the outside alone having assumed an
orange tint. The dried pulp has a mucilaginous, slightly acid taste,
without aroma, astringency, or sweetness.
There is also imported Bael fruit which has been collected when
ripe, as shown by the well-formed seeds. Such fruits arrive broken
irregularly and dried, or sawn into transverse slices and then dried,
or lastly entire, in which case they retain some of their original
fragrance resembling that of elemi.
=Microscopic Structure=—The rind of the fruit is covered with a strong
cuticle, and further shows two layers, the one exhibiting not very
numerous oil-cells, and the other an inner made up of sclerenchyme. The
tissue of the pulp, which, treated with water, swells into an elastic
mass, consists of large cells with considerable cavities between them.
The seeds when moistened yield an abundance of mucilage nearly in the
same way as White Mustard or Linseed. In the epidermis of the seeds
certain groups of cells are excessively lengthened, and thus constitute
the curious woolly hairs already noticed. They likewise afford mucilage
in the same way as the seed itself.
=Chemical Composition=—We are unable to confirm the remarkable analyses
of the drug alluded to in the _Pharmacopœia of India_;[511] nor can we
explain by any chemical examination upon what constituent the alleged
medicinal efficacy of bael depends.
[507] _Sirí-phal_ and _Bel_ are Hindustani names.—See also Flückiger,
_Documente_, 29.
[508] _De Indiæ re nat. et med._ 1658, lib. vi. c. 8.
[509] _Hort. Malab._ iii. (1682) tab. 37 (Covalam).
[510] _Herb. Amb._ i. tab. 81.
[511] Edition 1868, pp. 46 and 441.
The pulp moistened with cold water yields a red liquid containing
chiefly mucilage, and (probably) pectin which separates if the liquid
is concentrated by evaporation. The mucilage may be precipitated by
neutral acetate of lead or by alcohol, but is not coloured by iodine.
It may be separated by a filter into a portion truly soluble (as
proved by the addition of alcohol or acetate of lead), and another,
comprehending the larger bulk, which is only swollen like tragacanth,
but is far more glutinous and completely transparent.
Neither a per-nor a proto-salt of iron shows the infusion to contain
any appreciable quantity of tannin,[512] nor is the drug in any sense
possessed of astringent properties.
=Uses=—Bael is held in high repute in India as a remedy for dysentery
and diarrhœa; at the same time it is said to act as a laxative where
constipation exists.
=Adulteration=—The fruit of _Feronia Elephantum_ Correa, which has a
considerable external resemblance to that of _Ægle Marmelos_ and is
called by Europeans _Wood Apple_, is sometimes supplied in India for
bael. It may be easily distinguished: it is _one-celled_ with a large
five-lobed cavity (instead of 10 to 15 cells) filled with numerous
seeds. The tree has pinnate leaves with 2 or 3 pairs of leaflets. We
have seen _Pomegranate Peel_ offered as _Indian Bael_.[513]