^ 



FRUCTUS BEL.E. " 129 



In A.D. 1008 it was much grown at Salerno near Naples, whence its 

 fruits were sent as presents to the Norman princes.^ 



At the present clay, the citron appears to be nowhere cultivated 

 extensively, the more prolific lemon tree having generally taken its 

 place. It is however scattered along the Western Riviera, and is also 

 ^Town on & small scale about Pizzo and Paola on the western coast of 

 Calabria, in Sicily, Corsica, and Azores. Its fruits, which often weigh 

 several pounds, are chiefly sold for being candied. For this purpose 

 the^peel, which is excessively thick, is salted and in that state shipped 



'and and Holland. The fruit has a very scanty pulp.^ 



Essence of Cedrat which is quoted in some price-lists may be pre- 

 pared from the scarcely ripe fruit by the sponge-process ; but as it is 

 more profitable to export the fruit salted, it is very rarely manufactured, 

 and that which bears its name is for the most part fictitious. 



FRUCTUS BKI.JE 



Bela; Bael Fruit, Indian Bael, Bengal Quince, 



Botanical Origin— ^r;?e Marmelos^ Correa (Cratceva Marmelos L.), 

 a tree found in most parts of the Indian peninsula, which is often 

 plpted in the neighbourhood of temples, being esteemed sacred by the 

 timdus. It is truly wild in the forests of the Coromandel Ghats and 

 of the Western Himalaya, ascending often to 4,000 feet and growing 

 gregarious when wild. 



It attains a height of 30-40 feet, is usually armed with strong sharp 

 thorns and has trifid leaves, the central leaflet being petiolate and 

 larger than the lateral. The fruit is a large berry, 2 to 4 inches in diameter, 

 ^ ariable in shape, being spherical or somewhat flattened like an orange, 

 pvoid or pyriform,4 having a smooth hard shell ; the interior divided 



uito 10-1 



of a 



inff. In the 



CO + -^ }^ the fruit is very aromatic, and the juicy pulp which it 



ntains has an agreeable flavour, so that when mixed with water and 



ea? ' i<^ forms a palatable refrigerant drink. The fruit is never 



wif}!^ ^ <lessert, though its pulp is sometimes made into a preserve 



sugar. 



^^ * 



rem • ^- ^^^^*' ^^ ^^^^ ^'^^^ ^^^^ i^ described as small, hard, and flavourless, 

 ^ mammg long on the tree. The bark of the stem and root, the 



\\.c. ^'^^.^^'i ^'lie expressed iuice of the leaves are used in medicine by 

 ^he natives of India! 



to af^^^^'^y— The tree under the name of Bilva ^ is constantly alluded 

 an emblem of increase and fertility in ancient Sanskrit poems, 



Oribasiua 



•* In the Botanical Garden of Buitenzorg 



«'tronasaf ■f^'^^''^*% describes the in Ja va, three varieties are grown, namely 



tamely a ce 7 .'^^"sisting of three parts, fructibm ohlongis, frucllhus subglobosis, and 



^,^h zest in J *^'^ P^IP. a thick and macrocarpa. , , . 



^^"''"mlin 1, ^" aromatic outer coat. — ° We are indehted to Professor Monier 



' ^tlgk y°""^c'a, lib. i. c. 64. Williams of Oxford for pointing out to us 



^\^ from^'tV, *'^® Hesperides. —Mar- many references to Bilva in the Sanskrit 



Wnce._p- .°® Portuguese marmelo, a WT-itings. 

 11. ig- m Bentley and Trimen, part 



P , 



I 



