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12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1

Phyllanthus emblica L.

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Phyllanthus in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Sp. pl. 2: 982 (1753).

Emblica grandis Gaertner (1790), Emblica officinalis Gaertner (1790), Emblica arborea Raf. (1838).

Aonla, emblic myrobalan, Indian gooseberry (En). Emblique officinale, groseillier de Ceylan, myrobalan emblic (Fr). Indonesia: malaka (general), kemloko (Javanese), ki malaka (Sundanese). Malaysia: laka, melaka (Peninsular). Philippines: nelli. Burma (Myanmar): ta-sha-pen. Cambodia: karn lam, kam lam ko, kântûët préi. Laos: khaam poomz, mak kham pom. Thailand: ma-khaam pom (general), kan-tot (south-eastern), kam thuat (south-western). Vietnam: me r[uwf]ng, chu me (northern), b[oo]ng ng[os]t (southern).

Phyllanthus emblica is native to tropical South-East Asia, from India, Nepal and Pakistan to Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands and the Moluccas. It is widely cultivated for its fruits throughout its natural area of distribution, in India since time immemorial, and also in the West Indies, Japan, the Mascarene Islands and Sri Lanka, where it is doubtfully native. For several centuries only its fruits were known; they were used medicinally. In 1901 seeds of Phyllanthus emblica were distributed to early settlers in Florida and to public gardens and experimental stations in e.g. the West Indies, Hawaii and the Philippines. In 1982 seeds were sent to Australia.

All plant parts are applied medicinally. A decoction of the dried fruits is used in Indonesia to treat bloody diarrhoea. Fruit pulp is smeared on the head to dispel headache and dizziness, caused by excessive heat and fever. In Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand, the fruit juice is used as a laxative and for the treatment of inflamed eyes. In Indo-China, fruits are used to treat diarrhoea, and fruit juice is administered to treat colic and other abdominal disorders. In India, the fruit is valued as an antiscorbutic, refrigerant, diuretic, laxative and antibiotic, and considered useful in the treatment of haemorrhages, diarrhoea, dysentery, anaemia, jaundice, dyspepsia, diabetes, fever, bronchitis and cough. It is used as an ingredient for several medicines of the indigenous Ayurvedic system. Leaf decoctions are used in Malaysia as a febrifuge, and in Thailand for skin diseases. Seeds are applied in India against asthma, bronchitis, and biliousness, whereas flowers are credited with refrigerant and aperient properties. The bark is used in India for the treatment of diarrhoea or as a stomachium for elephants. The root bark is used in Burma (Myanmar) as an astringent and in India, mixed with honey, to treat inflammation in the mouth. In Malaysia, Thailand and to a greater extent India the fruits are a delicacy, eaten raw or preserved. The Akha in northern Thailand use the fruit as a masticatory and to blacken the teeth. Dried fruits are sometimes used as a shampoo. Fruits, leaves and bark are used for tanning and dyeing. Leaves and fruits are used for animal fodder, whereas leaves can also be applied as green manure. Although the wood may warp and split, it is used for the construction of furniture and implements; it is very durable when submerged. Finally, the wood is suitable as firewood and produces charcoal of good quality.

A monoecious, small to medium-sized tree up to 15(-25) m tall with phyllanthoid branching, bole often crooked and gnarled, up to 35 cm in diameter, bark thin, grey, smooth, flaking; cataphylls inconspicuous, scarious, their stipules triangular-ovate; deciduous branchlets (5-)10-25(-30) cm long, with (15-)30-100(-150) leaves; leaves subsessile, narrowly oblong, 12-20 mm x 2-5 mm, slightly oblique and subcordate at base, margin and tip almost inflexed, stipules triangular; proximal axils of deciduous branchlets with reduced leaves and cymules of male flowers followed by cymules of 1-2 female flowers surrounded by several male ones, distal part sterile or rarely reduced; flowers pale green, with 6 calyx-lobes; male flowers with 6 disk segments, stamens 3, filaments entirely connate, anthers free, minutely apiculate, dehiscing vertically; female flowers subsessile, with cup-shaped, 6-ribbed disk enclosing the ovary, styles shortly connate, mostly twice bifid; fruit drupaceous, tardily dehiscent, depressed globose, in wild plants 13-25 mm x 23-30 mm, in cultivated ones up to 42 mm in diameter, pale green becoming yellowish-white, smooth; seeds smooth. Phyllanthus emblica is most common in dry, semi-deciduous forest, at elevations up to 1800 m.

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F.L. van Holthoon

van Holthoon, F.L., 1999. Phyllanthus emblica L.. In: de Padua, L.S., Bunyapraphatsara, N. and Lemmens, R.H.M.J. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea