Aegle marmelos Seeds | Bael
LATIN NAME: Aegle marmelos
COMMON NAME: Bael
Plant Profile
Aegle marmelos is a spiny tree of the dry forests of India, and it is grown for a fruit that is hard enough to be used as a container. The fruit is round, ten centimetres across, with a woody rind that does not split when ripe, and the pulp inside is orange, fragrant and full of seed. The tree reaches twelve metres, with trifoliate leaves and thorns on the young shoots.
The species is sacred in Hinduism, and the leaves are offered to Shiva, which is one of the reasons the tree is planted around temples. It grows from the Himalayan foothills south through India and into Sri Lanka, in dry deciduous forest and on rocky ground, and it tolerates drought and poor soil better than most fruit trees.
Science & Biotechnology
The pulp contains marmelosin, a coumarin derivative, together with tannins, pectin and a range of volatile compounds. Marmelosin has been studied for anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activity, and the unripe fruit is astringent and used for diarrhoea, while the ripe fruit is a mild laxative. The rind contains the same compounds and is used in the same way.
The genus is a monospecific member of the Rutaceae, and its trifoliate leaves and its hard-shelled fruit separate it from the citrus relatives. The fruit is climacteric and ripens slowly, and the hard rind means it can be stored for weeks, which is why it was a useful fruit in a dry climate before refrigeration.
Uses & Benefits
The pulp is eaten fresh, but it is more often made into a sherbet, a drink called bael sharbat, with sugar and with lemon, and into jam and preserve. The unripe fruit is dried and used as a remedy for dysentery, and the leaf is used as a tea.
In Ayurveda the fruit, the leaf and the root are used for digestive complaints and for respiratory infections, and the leaf is used in religious ritual. The wood is hard and yellow and is used for small implements, and the tree is planted as a hedge and as a shade tree.
Growing from Seed
Seed should be sown fresh, since it loses viability quickly. Clean it from the pulp, sow it in a free-draining mix at 25 to 30 degrees, and germination is in two to four weeks. The seedling has a taproot and should be grown in a deep pot.
The tree wants full sun, a dry season and a well-drained soil, and it tolerates drought, heat and poor, rocky ground. It is tender below about minus two, so it is a tree for a warm climate. It is slow for the first years and then grows steadily, and it begins to fruit at about five years from seed. Fruit is picked when the rind turns from green to yellow, since a fruit that has fallen is usually overripe.
Our Take
A sacred tree with a fruit like a wooden ball, useful in a dry climate and worth growing for the sherbet alone.
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