Amla or Indian Gooseberry

Indian gooseberry (amla)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:

Plantae

(unranked):

Angiosperms

(unranked):

Eudicots

(unranked):

Rosids

Order:

Malpighiales

Family:

Phyllanthaceae

Tribe:

Phyllantheae

Subtribe:

Flueggeinae

Genus:

Phyllanthus

Species:

P. emblica

Binomial name

Phyllanthus emblica

Synonyms

Cicca emblica Kurz Emblica officinalis Gaertn. Mirobalanus embilica Burm. Phyllanthus mairei Lév.

Phyllanthus emblica (syn. Emblica officinalis), the Indian gooseberry is a deciduous tree of the Phyllanthaceae family. It is known for its edible fruit of the same name.

Plant anatomy and harvesting

The tree is small to medium in size, reaching 8 to 18 m in height, with a crooked trunk and spreading branches. The branchlets are glabrous or finely pubescent, 10–20 cm 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 are nearly spherical, light greenish yellow, quite smooth and hard on appearance, with six vertical stripes or furrows.

Ripening in autumn, the berries are harvested by hand after climbing to upper branches bearing the fruits. The taste of Indian gooseberry is sour, bitter and astringent, and it is quite fibrous. In India, it is common to eat gooseberries steeped in salt water and turmeric to make the sour fruits palatable. It is also used to straighten hair.

Medical research

Raw Gooseberries

Indian gooseberry has undergone preliminary research, demonstrating in vitro antiviral and antimicrobial properties.  There is preliminary evidence in vitro that its extracts induce apoptosis and modify gene expression in osteoclasts involved in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis.  It may prove to have potential activity against some cancers.  One recent animal study found treatment with E. officinalis reduced severity of acute pancreatitis (induced by L-arginine in rats). It also promoted the spontaneous repair and regeneration process of the pancreas occurring after an acute attack.

Experimental preparations of leaves, bark or fruit have shown potential efficacy against laboratory models of disease, such as for inflammation, cancer, age-related renal disease, and diabetes.

A human pilot study demonstrated a reduction of blood cholesterol levels in both normal and hypercholesterolemic men with treatment.  Another recent study with alloxan-induced diabetic rats given an aqueous amla fruit extract has shown significant decrease of the blood glucose, as well as triglyceridemic levels and an improvement of the liver function caused by a normalization of the liver-specific enzyme alanine transaminase activity.

Although these fruits are reputed to contain high amounts of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), 445 mg/100g,  the specific contents are disputed, and the overall antioxidant strength of amla may derive instead from its high density of ellagitannins  such as emblicanin A (37%), emblicanin B (33%), punigluconin (12%) and pedunculagin (14%).  It also contains punicafolin and phyllanemblinin A, B, C, D, E and F.

The fruit also contains other polyphenols: flavonoids, kaempferol, ellagic acid and gallic acid.

Cultural & Religious Significance

According to Hindu tradition, Saint Adi Shankara composed and recited Kanakadhara stotram in praise of Goddess Mahalakshmi to make a poor Brahmin lady get wealth, for a single amla presented to him as Bhiksha by that lady on an auspicious Dwadashi day.

An ancient Tamil legend

According to a Tamil legend, AvvaiyarTamil: ஔவையார்), a female poet,ethicist and political activist of the Sangam period was gifted by one amla to her by King Athiyaman which will give her a long life.

Traditional uses

Medicinal use

In traditional Indian medicine, dried and fresh fruits of the plant are used. All parts of the plant are used in various Ayurvedic/Unani medicine (Jawarish amla) herbal preparations, including the fruit, seed, leaves, root, bark and flowers.  According to Ayurveda, aamla fruit is sour (amla) and astringent (kashaya) in taste (rasa), with sweet (madhura), bitter (tikta) and pungent (katu) secondary tastes (anurasas). Its qualities (gunas) are light (laghu) and dry (ruksha), the postdigestive effect (vipaka) is sweet (madhura), and its energy (virya) is cooling (shita).

According to Ayurveda, aamla balances all three doshas. While aamla is unusual in that it contains five out of the six tastes recognized by Ayurved, it is most important to recognize the effects of the "virya", or potency, and "vipaka", or post-digestive effect. Considered in this light, aamla is particularly helpful in reducing pitta due to its cooling energy. and balances both Pitta and vata by virtue of its sweet taste. The kapha is balanced primarily due to its drying action. It may be used as a rasayana (rejuvenative) to promote longevity, and traditionally to enhance digestion (dipanapachana), treat constipation (anuloma), reduce fever (jvaraghna), purify the blood (raktaprasadana), reduce cough (kasahara), alleviate asthma (svasahara), strengthen the heart (hrdaya), benefit the eyes (chakshushya), stimulate hair growth (romasanjana), enliven the body (jivaniya), and enhance intellect (medhya).

In Ayurvedic polyherbal formulations, Indian gooseberry is a common constituent, and most notably is the primary ingredient in an ancient herbal rasayana called Chyawanprash. This formula, which contains 43 herbal ingredients as well as clarified butter, sesame oil, sugar cane juice, and honey, was first mentioned in the Charaka Samhita as a premier rejuvenative compound.

A jar of South Indian Andhra amla pickle

In Chinese traditional therapy, this fruit is called yuganzi (余甘子), which is used to cure throat inflammation.

Emblica officinalis tea may ameliorate diabetic neuropathy. In rats it significantly reduced blood glucose, food intake, water intake and urine output in diabetic rats compared with the non‐ diabetic control group. 
Culinary use

Particularly in South India, the fruit is pickled with salt, oil, and spices. Aamla is eaten raw or cooked into various dishes. In Andhra Pradesh, tender varieties are used to prepare dal (a lentil preparation), and amle ka murabbah, a sweet dish indigenous to the northern part of India (wherein the berries are soaked in sugar syrup for a long time till they are imparted the sweet flavor); it is traditionally consumed after meals.

Other uses

Popularly used in inks, shampoos and hair oils, the high tannin content of Indian gooseberry fruit serves as a mordant for fixing dyes in fabrics.  Amla shampoos and hair oil are traditionally believed to nourish the hair and scalp and prevent premature grey hair. 

 

 Alternate names

Names of this tree in Indian and other languages include:

amalika in Sanskrit
aamla in Hindi
aamla in Gujarati
aavnlaa (awla) (or awla) in اردو
aavalaa (or awla) in Marathi
ambare in Garo language
avaalo in Konkani
sunhlu in Mizo
amala  in Nepali
amloki (আমলকী) in Bengali
amlakhi in Assamese
amla in Oriya
Aula in Punjabi
nellikka in Malayalam
heikru in Manipuri
sohmylleng in Khasi
usiri (or usirikai ) in Telugu
nellikkai nellikkaai or nellikaayi) in Tamil and Kannada
nelli in Sinhala
mak kham bom in Lao
ma kham pom  in Thai
anmole in Chinese
skyu ru ra in Tibetan
melaka in Malay, A state in Malaysia, Malacca was named after this tree.
zee phyu thee in Myanmar

Also found are the names emblic, emblic myrobalan, malacca tree and the variants in spelling aola, ammalaki, aamvala, aawallaa, dharty, nillika, and nellikya.

Gallery

Fruit with young leaves and flower buds.









Flowering twigs

 

 

New leaves.

Tree trunk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bark of the Indian Goosebery.