Phyllanthus emblica
Amla ( Phyllanthus emblica )
Phyllanthus emblica (synonym: Emblica officinalis) is the scientific name for the Amlabaum from the family of Phyllanthaceae. Colloquially it is known under the name of Indian gooseberry, Amlabaum, Myrobalanenbaum or myrobalan. Its fruit is referred to either as Indian gooseberry or Amla as short.
Description of the plant and its use
The tree is small to medium in size and reach a size of 8 to 18 meters. He has a crooked trunk and sprawling branches. The branches are bare or covered with fine hair, 10 to 20 inches long and largely covered with foliage. The leaves are light green and sit individually and close together on the branch, similar pinnate leaves. The flowers are greenish- yellow. The fruit is globose, greenish- yellow, quite smooth and hard on appearance, with six vertical stripes or furrows.
The berries reach full maturity in the fall and are traditionally harvested by hand. The taste of Indian gooseberry is sour, bitter and astringent, and is quite fibrous. In India, it is customary to eat in salt water soak the gooseberries with turmeric to give the acid fruits in this way a pleasant taste. In addition, the amla fruit is also used for straightening hair.
The Amla tree is originally from India, but grew up in various tropical, subtropical and temperate areas.
Names in other languages
The most important foreign names are:
- Aanla in Oriya
- Aamla ( આમળા ) in Gujarati
- Aavalaa ( आवळा ) (or awla ) in Marathi
- AvaaLo ( आवाळो ) in Konkani
- Aamla ( आँवला ) in Hindi
- Amala in Nepali
- Amalaka | amlaki | aamlaki in Sanskrit
- Amloki ( আমলকী ) in Bengali
- Amlakhi in Assamese
- Haliilaj or ihliilaj in Arabic was derived from ihliilaji, which means as much as 'elliptical' and most likely refers to the shape of the fruit
- Heikru in Manipuri
- Nelli ( නෙල්ලි ) in Sinhala
- Nellikka ( നെല്ലിക്ക ) in Malayalam
- Nellikkai ( நெல்லிக்காய் / ನೆಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಯಿ / ಗುಡ್ದದ ನೆಲ್ಲಿ ) (or nellikkaai, nellikaayi ) in Tamil and Kannada
- Mak kham bom in Lao
- Ma kham pom ( มะขามป้อม ) in Thai
- Olay in Punjabi
- Osiris ( ఉసిరి కాయ ) (or usirikai ) in Telugu
- Anmole (庵 摩勒) in Chinese
Medical importance
The Indian gooseberry is very well researched and it is said to have in vitro antiviral and antimicrobial properties.
2009 were D. Chakraborty and R. Verma show in an experiment that the sperm quality of mice, which were poisoned by ochratoxin and treated with Emblica officinalis, extract, improved compared to the poisoned with ochratoxin control mice. This reduction in the damage caused by Emblica officinalis ochratoxin could be explained by a possible antioxidant effect of Emblica.
Luo and co-workers showed in 2011 that tested phenolic components of Emblica officinalis had a radical scavenger activity.
When induced by isoproterenol myocardial infarction of rats discovered Ojha et al 2011 that could be increased by oral administration of amla extract at higher doses of the systolic and diastolic arterial blood pressure, mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate in comparison to the induced with isoproterenol control mice.
An ex vivo assay of Shashidhara and employees with goats eyes showed in 2012 a reduced opacity of the lens, when the eyes are in a solution of glucose and Triphala Extract - compared to the glucose solution.
In an in vitro experiment showed Philip and employees 2012 that the amla extract a growth inhibition in Salmonella and in low concentrations caused an inhibition of growth of Shigella in high concentrations.
Muthuraman and coworkers showed 2012 in a model of acute inflammation in rats that at high concentrations of free and bound phenolics occurred a reduction in edema.
At low doses of amla extract mice show an improvement in the forced swim test and the tail suspension test, suggesting an antidepressant effect.