Bael
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Rutaceae
Subfamily:	Aurantioideae
Tribe:	Clauseneae
Genus:	Aegle Corrêa
Species:	A. marmelos
Binomial name
Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr.Serr.

Bael (Aegle marmelos) বাংলাঃ বেল (Hindi:बेल) is a middle sized slender aromatic armed tree. It is a fruit-bearing tree.

Contents 1 Habitat 2 Alternative names 3 Habit 4 Uses 5 Use in religious rituals 6 Gallery 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

[edit] Habitat

Bael is indigenous to dry forests on hills and plains of central and southern India, southern Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. It is cultivated throughout India, as well as in Sri Lanka, northern Malay Peninsula, Java and in the Philippines.

[edit] Alternative names

It is also popularly known as Vilam Palam (tamil),Bilva, Bilwa, Bel, Kuvalam, Koovalam, Madtoum, or Beli fruit, Bengal quince, stone apple,Maredu (in Telugu), and wood apple. The tree, which is the only species in the genus.

Sanskrit names:Bilva,Śalātu, Hṛdyagandha, Karkaṭa, Samirasāraka,Śivadruma,Triśikha, Śiveṣhṭa, Dūrāruha, Lakṣmī phala, Śalya, Mahākapithya etc.^[1]

[edit] Habit

Aegle, grows up to 18 meters tall and bears thorns and fragrant flowers. It has a woody-skinned, smooth fruit 5-15 cm in diameter. The skin of some forms of the fruit is so hard it must be cracked open with a hammer. It has numerous seeds, which are densely covered with fibrous hairs and are embedded in a thick, gluey, aromatic pulp.

[edit] Uses

The fruit is eaten fresh or dried. If fresh, the juice is strained and sweetened to make a drink similar to lemonade, and is also used in making sharbat, a refreshing drink where the pulp is mixed with lime juice. If the fruit is to be dried, it is usually sliced first and left to dry by the heat of the sun. The hard leathery slices are then placed in a pan with several litres of water which is then boiled and simmered. As for other parts of the plant, the leaves and small shoots are eaten as salad greens.

The Tamil Siddhars used koovilam, as Aegle Marmelos is called for many purposes. The leaves are used to cure sinusitis, dyspepsia and anorexia. A confection ("iLakam" in Tamil) made of this fruit is used to cure tuberculosis, loss of appetite, emaciation etc. There are several such pharmacopoeia in Siddha medicine. ^[2]

This tree is a larval foodplant for the following two Indian Swallowtail butterflies:

• The Lime Butterfly: Papilio demoleus
• The Common Mormon: Papilio polytes

[edit] Use in religious rituals

The fruit is also used in religious rituals and as a ayurvedic remedy for such ailments as diarrhea, dysentery, intestinal parasites, dryness of the eyes, and the common cold. It is a very powerful antidote for chronic constipation.

In Hinduism, Every day Lakshmi had a thousand flowers plucked by her handmaidens and she offered them to the idol of Shiva in the evening. One day, counting the flowers as she offered them, she found that there were two less than a thousand. It was too late to pluck any more for evening had come and the lotuses had closed their petals for the night.

Lakshmi thought it inauspicious to offer less than a thousand. Suddenly she remembered that Vishnu had once described her breasts as blooming lotuses. She decided to offer them as the two missing flowers.

Lakshmi cut off one breast and placed it with the flowers on the altar. Before she could cut off the other, Shiva, who was extremely moved by her devotion, appeared before her and asked her to stop. He then turned her cut breast into round, sacred Bael fruit (Aegle marmelos) and sent it to Earth with his blessings, to flourish near his temples.

In the traditional culture of Nepal, the Bael tree is part of an important fertility ritual for girls known as the Bel baha.

[edit] Gallery

trunk at Narendrapur near Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

tree at Narendrapur near Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

leaves at Narendrapur near Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

H.K.Bakhru (1997). Foods that Heal. The Natural Way to Good Health. Orient Paperbacks. ISBN 81-222-0033-8. 

[edit] External links

• Bael Fruit entry in Fruits of Warm Climates by J. F. Morton
•  "Bael Fruit". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

This fruit tree-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This Rutaceae article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e