BAEL 91 



tion. The extract and syrup are uncertain remedies, and preparations 

 of opium are in every respect preferable. 



BAEL FRUIT 



(Indian Bael, Fructus Belae) 



Source, &C. Indian bael is the fruit of Mgle, Marmelos, Correa 

 (N.O. Rutacece), a tree attaining a height of 12 metres and growing both 

 wild and cultivated throughout the entire Indian peninsula. Being 

 a sacred tree the Hindus plant it near their temples. It became 

 known to the Portuguese as a remedy for dysentery when they occupied 

 the eastern shores of India, the 

 pulp of the half ripe fruit being 

 eaten while fresh. It was intro- 

 duced into European medicine 

 about the middle of the last 

 century, but the dried fruit ap- 

 pears to be much less efficacious 

 than the fresh. 



Description. The fruit is ovoid 

 or rounded, and about the size of an 

 orange, although sometimes rather 

 larger. Externally it is yellowish 

 brown, smooth, or slightly granular 

 and hard, and bears a circular scar 

 at the point of attachment of the FlG . 52 ._ Bael fruit. Transverse 

 peduncle. The entire fruit is too section of a small specimen. 



hard to cut with a knife, but may Natural size. (Holmes.) 



be sawn across, and will then 



be found to consist of a reddish woody rind about 1*5 mm. thick, 

 enclosing from ten to fifteen carpels, each containing several hairy 

 seeds embedded in a transparent yellowish or red mucilage. The dried 

 pulp, which is mucilaginous and aromatic when fresh, is hard, and 

 varies in colour from pale to dark red ; it frequently breaks away from 

 the rind during the drying, leaving only a thin layer attached to it. 

 Even the dried fruit has an agreeable odour and mucilaginous, some- 

 times also aromatic, taste. 



The fruit is frequently imported in dried quarters or in transverse 

 slices. The latter have an appearance similar to that of the transverse 

 section of the entire fruit, but the pulp usually adheres firmly to the 

 rind and has a darker colour externally, being paler within. Preference 

 should be given to unripe fruits, or the slices cut from them, and these 

 may be recognised by the small undeveloped seeds they contain ; they 

 are also less aromatic than the ripe fruits. In this respect the entire 

 fruits are often inferior to the slices. 



