ဥသျှစ်

Myanmar Name – Okshit

Common Name – Bael tree, bili fruit tree

Botanical Name – Aegle marmelos (L.)Correa

Family Name – Rutaceae

Habitat – native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is present in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal as a naturalized

Habit – Tree to 12 m tall, deciduous; branchlets cylindric, sometimes slightly angled, glabrous; spines axillary, solitary or paired, straight, stout and sharp.

Bark – Typically grayish or brownish in color and is characterized by a rough and fissured texture.

Leaves – Leaves alternate-3-foliolate, dimorphic; petioles terete to 6 cm long, glabrous or puberulous when young; leaflets subsessile, ovate-elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, oblique at base, shallowly crenate-serrate at margin, tapering at apex, membranous, pellucid-punctate, pale green.

Inflorescence – Inflorescences axillary and terminal, 4-5 cm long; peduncles densely puberulent; pedicels 2-4 mm long.

Flower – Flowers bisexual, greenish white or yellow, fragrant. Calyx cupular, finely puberulent, caducous; lobes 4 or 5, 3-angled. Petals 5, ovate-oblong, subequal, ca 12 x 6 mm, spreading, glabrous, fleshy and white. Stamens numerous in 2 or 3 series, free or basally subconnate, unequal; filaments subulate, ca 7 mm long, glandular; anthers linear-oblong, ca 8 mm long. Disc glabrous, greenish. Ovary ovoid, 4-5 mm long, faintly ridged, 10-loculed; ovules many, 2-seriate; style short; stigma oblong, longitudinally grooved.

Fruit – Berries ovoid, 6-10 cm across, woody, yellowish, many seeded.

Seed – seeds oblong and flat.

Flowering and Fruiting Time – Flowering in May – July and Fruiting in September – December.

Usage – Used in traditional medicine systems to treat everything from digestive disorders to skin infections; The wood is used to make crafts and furniture.