Indian Gooseberry 

BOTANICAL NAME:

• Emblica officinalis

FAMILY:

• Euphorbiaceae

SYNONYM(S):

• Phyllan thus emblica linn

URDU NAME:

• Anwala

REGIONAL NAME:

• Bengali: Amlaki, Amla
• Persian: Amla, Amuleh
• Hindi: Amla. Anola
• Pashto: Amlay
• Sanskrit: Adiphala, Dhatriphala, Amalaka
• Sindhi: Anwara
• Arabic: Amlaj
• Punjabi: Amla, Ambla
• Kashmeri: Anola

UNANI/TIBBI NAME:

• Amlaj, Amla

ENGLISH NAME:

• Amblic myrobalan, Andian Gooseberry

HABITAT:

• It is wild in the foothills from Hazara and Rawalpindi Districts Eastward, ascending to 4500ft. also cultivated in the Plains.

DESCRIPTION:

• It is small or medium sized deciduous tree
• Bark smooth greenish grey
• Leaves light green feathery with small, narrowly oblong,  linear pinnate leaflets
• The flowers are greenish yellow
• The fruit 1.3 cm in diameter is globose, fleshy and obscurely 6-lobed; is green when tender turning to light yellow or brick- red on ripening.
• Seeds are trigonous

PART USED:

• Fruit

TASTE:

• Acrid and sour

TEMPERAMENT:

• Cold 2°, dry 3°

PERIOD OF OCCURRENCE:

• Flowers appear during summer from March to May whereas the fruits ripen in winter

PROCEDURE & TIME OF COLLECTION:

• The fruits are picked from October to April, dried and stored

CONSTITUENTS:

• Vitamin c
• Tannins,
• Protein
• Fat
• Minerals, Ca2+, P, Fe2+, Nicotinic Acid

SUBSTITUTES:

• Choti har/chebulic myrobalan (terminalia chebula)

ACTIONS AND USES IN UNANI SYSTEM OF MEDICINE:

Pharmacological action:

• Refrigerant
• Diuretic
• Laxative
• Aperients
• astringent

Therapeutic uses:

• Fruits are useful in chronic dirrhoea, dysentery, hemorrhage, anemia, jaundice, dyspepsia. Is used as a heart and brain tonic

DOSES:

• 3-10 g

CORRECTIVES:

• Shed/Honey
• Rhoghan-e-badam/almond oil (purunus amygdalus)

IMPORTANT UNANI FORMULATIONS:

• Sharbat amla
• Muraba amla
• Jawarash anila
• Jawarash shahi
• Atraiphal
• Majun mundi
• Majun kalan

ASTROLOGY:

• Saturn