''Terminalia bellirica'', known as baheda, bahera, behada, beleric or bastard myrobalan (Arabic: beliledj بليلج, borrowed from

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

Balilag), Persian بلیله (Balileh), Sanskrit: Vibhītaka बिभीतक, Aksha is a large deciduous tree in the Combretaceae family. It is common on the plains and lower hills in

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, where it is also grown as an avenue tree. The

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

is ''Myrobalanus bellirica'' Gaertn. (Fruct. Sem. Pl. 2: 90, t. 97. 1791).

William Roxburgh William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE Linnean Society of London, FLS (3/29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815) was a Scottish people, Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known ...

transferred ''M. bellirica'' to ''Terminalia'' as "''T. bellerica'' (Gaertn.) Roxb.". This spelling error is now widely used, causing confusion. The correct name is ''Terminalia bellirica'' (Gaertn.) Roxb.

Leaves and seeds

The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are about 15 cm long and crowded toward the ends of the branches. It is considered a good fodder for cattle. ''Terminalia bellirica'' seeds have an oil content of 40%, whose

fatty acid In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated and unsaturated compounds#Organic chemistry, saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an ...

methyl In organic chemistry, a methyl group is an alkyl derived from methane, containing one carbon atom bonded to three hydrogen atoms, having chemical formula (whereas normal methane has the formula ). In formulas, the group is often abbreviated as ...

ester In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an acid (either organic or inorganic) in which the hydrogen atom (H) of at least one acidic hydroxyl group () of that acid is replaced by an organyl group (R). These compounds contain a distin ...

meets all of the major

biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, a form of diesel fuel, derived from biological sources like vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made from fats. The roots of bi ...

requirements in the US (ASTM D 6751-02, ASTM PS 121-99), Germany (DIN V 51606) and European Union (EN 14214). The seeds are called bedda nuts. Terminalia bellirica 2

The

kernels Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learnin ...

are eaten by the

Lodha people Lodha people are one of Schedule Tribes and PVTGs of India, primarily living in West Bengal and Odisha. Lodhas of West Bengal mostly live the Paschim Medinipur and Jhargham districts. A section of the Lodha has converted to Islam ...

of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

for their mind-altering qualities. The nuts of the tree are rounded but with five flatter sides. It seems that are used as dice in the epic poem

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

and in

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

book 10 hymn 34. A handful of nuts would be cast on a gaming board and the players would have to call whether an odd or even number of nuts had been thrown. In the

Nala Nala () is a legendary king of ancient Nishadha kingdom and the central protagonist of the '' Nalopakhyana'', a sub-narrative within the Indian epic '' Mahabharata'', found in its third book, '' Vana Parva'' (Book of the Forest). He is renown ...

, King Rituparna demonstrates his ability to count large numbers instantaneously by counting the number of nuts on an entire bough of a tree.

Medicinal use

In traditional Indian

Ayurvedic Ayurveda (; ) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayur ...

medicine, beleric is known as "bibhitaki" (

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

: "behada" or "bhenda") (''Terminalia bellirica''). Its fruit is used in the popular Indian herbal

rasayana In early ayurvedic medicine, ''rasāyana'' (Pali and Sanskrit: रसायन, "path of essence") is one of the eight areas of medicine in Sanskrit literature. The 11th-century Persian scholar Abū Rayhān Bīrūnī noted an Indian science ...

treatment

triphala Triphala ("three fruits") is an Ayurvedic herbal rasayana formula consisting of the herbs Haritaki, Bibhitaki, and Amlaki (Indian gooseberry) in a 1:2:3 ratio. It contains vitamin C. Physiological Effects See also *Ayurveda *Rasayana ...

. In

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

it is called ''bibhītaka'' बिभीतक. In India,

neemuch Neemuch or Nimach is a city in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. The town shares its northwestern border with the state of Rajasthan and is the administrative headquarters of Neemuch District. Formerly a large British people, British cantonm ...

; a town in the Malwa region of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

is a major trading centre of skinless baheda and entire fruits of ''T. bellirica''. The fruits are widely collected in the wild in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. According to Dymock, Warden, Hooper: ''Pharmacographia Indica'' (1890):

This tree, in Sanskrit Bibhita and Bibhitaka (fearless), is avoided by the Hindus of Northern India, who will not sit in its shade, as it is supposed to be inhabited by demons. Two varieties of ''T. belerica'' are found in India, one with nearly globular fruit, 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter, the other with ovate and much larger fruit. The pulp of the fruit (Beleric myrobalan) is considered by ayurvedic physicians to be astringent and laxative, and is prescribed with salt and long pepper in infections of the throat and chest. As a constituent of the triphala (three fruits), i.e., emblic, beleric and chebulic myrobalans, it is employed in a great number of diseases, and the kernel is sometimes used as an external application to inflamed parts. On account of its medicinal properties the tree bears the Sanskrit synonym of Anila-ghnaka, or "wind-killing." According to the
Nighantu (, ) is a Sanskrit term for a traditional collection of words, grouped into thematic categories, often with brief annotations. Such collections share characteristics with glossaries and thesauri, but are not true lexicons, such as the kośa of Sa ...
s the kernels are narcotic.

In the

Charaka Samhita The ''Charaka Samhita'' () is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine). Along with the '' Sushruta Samhita'', it is one of the two foundational texts of this field that have survived from ancient India. It is one of the three w ...

, the ancient Ayurvedic text, bibhitaki fruits are mentioned as having qualities to alleviate disease, and bestow longevity, intellectual prowess and strength. There are several "rasaayan" described in the Charaka Samhita, that use bibhitaki. A description of the Fourth Amalaka Rasaayan, which includes bibhitaki as one of the fruits: "By this treatment, the sages regained youthfulness and attained disease-free life of many hundred years, and endowed with the strength of physique, intellect and senses, practiced penance with utmost devotion."

Gallery

File:Harra (Terminalia chebula) trunk at 23 Mile, Duars, WB W IMG 59023.jpg, Trunk of ''T. bellirica'' File:Harra (Terminalia chebula) hanging fruit at 23 Mile, Duars, WB W IMG 5902.jpg, Fruit of ''T. bellirica'' File:Harra (Terminalia chebula) fallen fruit at 23 Mile, Duars, WB W IMG 5900.jpg, A fallen fruit File:Terminalia bellirica 1z .jpg, ''T. bellirica'' tree

References

External links

* Contains a detailed monograph on Terminalia belerica (Bibhitaki) as well as a discussion of health benefits and usage in clinical practice. Available online at https://web.archive.org/web/20110515075816/http://www.toddcaldecott.com/index.php/herbs/learning-herbs/389-bibhitaki {{Taxonbar, from=Q1983629 bellirica Flora of tropical Asia Flora of Yunnan