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Aegle marmelos (L.), Corr. in Pandanus database of Indian plant names
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  Aegle marmelos (L.), Corr. details in Pandanus database of Indian plant names

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 Latin nameAegle marmelos (L.), Corr.
 FamilyRutaceae
 Identified with (Lat)Feronia pellucida Roth, Crateva marmelos L., Belou marmelos W.F.Wight, Bilacus marmelos Kuntze
 Identified with (Skt)bilva, vilva, śivadruma, śrīphala
 Identified with (Pkt)billa
 Identified with (Hin)bel, sirphal
 Identified with (Ben)bel, śrīphal
 Identified with (Tam)vilvam, kūviḷam
 Identified with (Mal)kūvvaḷam, kūḷakam
 Identified with (Eng)Wood apple, Stone apple, Golden apple, Bengal quince, Indian quince
 Botanical infoA deciduous tree, up to 15m high, growing all over India, bears thorns, flowers light green, trifoliate leaves, round fruit with hard shell covering sweet pasty pulp.
 Search occurrencebilva, vilva, śivadruma, śrīphala, in the Pandanus database of Sanskrit e-texts
 See plant's imageAegle marmelos (L.), Corr. in Google image search
 Encyclopedias &
 Dictionaries

Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 732)
bilva, m. (in later language also vilva) Aegle Marmelos, the wood-apple tree (commonly called Bel; its delicious fruit when unripe is used medicinally; its leaves, are employed in the ceremonial of the worship of Śiva; cf. RTL. 336), AV. &c. &c.; (ā) f. a kind of plant (= hiṅgu-pattrī), L.; n. the Bilva fruit, MBh.; Kathās.; a partic. weight (= 1 Pala, = 4 Akshas, = 1/4 Kuḍava)

Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 1074)
śivadruma, m. Aegle Marmelos, L.

Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 1099)
śrīphala, m. the Bilva tree, Aegle Marmelos L.; (ā) f. the Indigo plant L.; (ī) f. id. L.; myrobalan L.; (am) n. "sacred fruit", the Bilva fruit Mn. Yājñ. Hariv.; a cocoanut GāruḍaP.; the fruit i.e. result of splendour &c. Cat.; -kṛcchra m. a kind of self-mortification (regarded as specially efficacious, eating no food except the Bilva fruit for a whole month) Vishṇ.; -vardhinī f. N. of wk.

Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 986)
see bilva

Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras (p. 1078)
kūviḷam: 1. Bael; 2. A species of garlic pear; 3. Mnemonic for the metrical foot of nēr-nirai

Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras (p. 3710)
vilvam: 1. Bael, m. tr.; 2. A species of garlic-pear

Dymock, Warden, Hooper: Pharmacographia Indica (vol. I, pp. 277-279)
Aegle Marmelos, Rutaceae
Fig.- Bael tree (Eng.)
This is a sacred tree amongst the Hindus, its leaves being used in the worship of Siva. On this account it is to be found cultivated everywhere in Hindu gardens. It is considered sacrileguous to destroy it; enormous quantities of the leaves are gathered for use in the temples at certain seasons. In ancient Sanskrit poems it is frequently alluded to as an emblem of increase and fertility, it is considered to be very auspicious (ati-mangalya). The baten of the Vaisya or third caste of Hindus is obtainded from this tree. The fruit is the subject of several Solar-phallic myths. Hindu physicians regard the unripe or half ripe fruit as astringent, digestive, and stomachic, and presribe it in diarrhoea and dysentery. The ripe fruit is considered aromatic, cooling and laxative. A thick sherbet of the ripe fruit has a reputation among Europeans as an agreeable laxative; the dose is a tumbler-full. The dried pulp of the fruit is called Vilva peshika in Sanskrit. The root bark is used as a remedy in hypochondriasis, melancholia and palpitation of the heart (diseases supposed to be caused by deranged air); it is one of the Dasamula or ten plants (včde Tribulus terrestris). The fresh juice of the leaves is given with honey as a laxative and febrifuge; it is used in asthmatic complaints, and with the addition of black pepper in anasarca with constiveness and jaundice; moreover, in external inflammations it is given to correct the supposed derangement of the humours. The Mahometans use the Bel as a medicine, and Muhammad bin Zakarieh describes it; they consider the ripe fruit to be hot and dry, the very young fruit cold in the second degree, and the half ripe fruit cold in the first and dry in the second degree; its properties are described in the Makhzan-el-Adwiya as cardiacal, restorative, tonic and astringent; it is directed to be combined with sugar for administration to prevent its giving rise to piles. The pulp of the half-ripe fruit baked and mixed with sugar and rose water when given on an empty stomach is said to be a good remedy for diarrhoea. Garcia d'Orta, physician to the Viceroy of Goa in the 16th century, describes the Bel fruit under the name of Marmelos de Benguala, and mentions its use in dysentery. Bontius also mentions it. Rheede in his Hort. Malab. (Vol. iii., p. 37), notices its use on the Malabar coast. Rumphius remarks that the gum is like cherry gum, it tastes at first sweet but afterwards slightly acrid. He also tells us that the Chinese make an extract of the leaves and young fruit which they use for adulterating opium. Ainslie and the author of the Bengal Dispensatory quote Rheede, but give no further information upon the use of the fruit in dysentery. In 1853, Sir B. Martin, writing in the Lancet (Vol. II., p. 58), called the attention of the profession to it; finally, in 1869, it was made official in the Pharmacopoeia of India, where it is recommended as a remedy of much value in atonic diarrhoea and dysentery and in the advanced stages of those diseases, in irregularity of the bowels, and in habitual constipation. In the Concan the small unripe fruit (Bal belphal) is given with fennel seeds and ginger in decoction for piles; a compound pill containing two parts each of Bāl belphal, Mimusops Elengi fruit, and galls, one part each of nutmags, cloves, saffron, nāgkesar and mace, is used as a remedy for diarrhoea; the dose is one pill for a child and three for an adult. Two tolās of the juice of the bark is given with a little cummin in milk as a remedy for poverty of the seminal fluid. The best preparation of Bael fruit is a marmelade made from the full grown but still tender fruit cut in thin slices; it keeps well, which is not the case with the conserve made from the pulp of the ripe fruit usually met with in the shops.


 
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