Amalaki  Emblica officinalis  (Fam. Euphorbiaceae), Ayurveda Drug

small or medium sized tree, found in mixed deciduous forests, ascending to 1300 m on hills and cultivated in gardens and homeyards.

LATIN NAME —

• Emblica officinalis

Family —

• Euphorbiaceae

SYNONYMS Amalaki  Emblica officinalis –

• Sanskrit    :    Amalaka, Amtaphala, Dhatr¢phala
• Assamese    :    Amlaku, Amlakhi, Amlakhu
• Bengali    :    Amla, Dhatri
• English    :    Emblic Myrobalan
• Marathi    :    Anvala, Avalkathi
• Oriya       :    Anala, Ainla
• Punjabi    :    Aula, Amla
• Tamil       :    Nellikkai, Nelli
• Telugu      :    Usirika
• Urdu        :    Amla, Amlaj
• Gujrati      :    Ambala, Amala
• Hindi        :    Amla, Aonla
• Kannada    :    Nellikayi
• Kashmiri    :    Embali, Amli
• Malayalam    :    Nellikka

DESCRIPTION  and PLACES OF ORIGIN of Amalaki  Emblica officinalis —

• small or medium sized tree, found in mixed deciduous forests,
• ascending to 1300 m on hills and cultivated in gardens and homeyards.
• Fruit, globose, 2.5-3.5 cm in diameter, fleshy, smooth with six prominant lines; greenish when tender, changing to light yellowish or pinkish colour when mature,
• with a few dark specks: taste, sour and astringent followed by delicately sweet taste.
• Transverse section of mature fruit shows an
• epicarp consisting of single layer of epidermis and 2-4 layers of hypodermis; epidermal cell, tabular In shape, covered externally with a thick cuticle and appear in surface view as polygonal; hypodermal cells tangentially elongated, thick-walled, smaller in dimension than epidermal cells;
• mesocarp consisting of xylem and phloem; xylem composed of tracheal elements, fibre tracheids and xylem fibres; tracheal elements show reticulate scalariform and spiral thickenings; xylem fibres elongated with narrow lumen and pointed end;
• mesocarp forms bulk of fruit, consisting of thin-walled parenchymatous cells with intercellular spaces, peripheral 6-9 layers smaller, ovoid or tangentially elongated while rest of cells larger in size, isodiametric and radially elongated; several collateral fibrovascular bundles scattered throughout
• mesocarp contains large aggregates of numerous irregular silica crystals.

CONSTITUENTS  –

• Ascorbic acid and tannins

PROPERTIES AND ACTION and GUNA —

Rasa         :

• Amla, Kashya, Madhura, Tikta, Katu

Guna         :

• Rksha, Laghu

Virya     :

• ticta

Vipaka     :

• Madhura

Function or Karma        :

• Tridoshar,
• Virya,
• Rasayana,
• Cakshsuya

IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS  –

• Cyavanaprasa

THERAPEUTIC USES Amalaki  Emblica officinalis –

• Raktapitta,
• Amlapitta,
• Prameha,
• Daha

Ayurveda DOSE  Amalaki  Emblica officinalis –

• 10-20 g of the drug 5-10 ml of fresh juice