Bael

Bael

Scientific name: Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr., Trans. Linn.

Synonym: Crataeva marmelos L.

Bangla/local name: বেল (Bael/Bel)

Taxonomic Position According to Cronquist (1988)

Kingdom: Plantae

Phyllum: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsia

Order: Sapindales

Family: Rutaceae

Genus: Aegle

Species:  A. marmelos

Botanical Description of Bael

Habit: A medium-sized deciduous tree, up to 15 m tall. Older branches spiny, spines solitary or paired, 1-2 cm long, straight, sharp.

Figure: Stem anatomy of Bael

Figure: Leaf Anatomy of Bael

Leaves: Leaves alternate, usually 3-foliolate, occasionally 5-foliolate, petiolate, petioles 2-4 cm long, glabrous or puberulous when young, lateral leaflets ovate-elliptic, up to 7.0 x 4.2 cm, terminal one obovate, up to 13 cmx 4.8 cm, densely minutely glandular-punctate, lateral petiolules up to 3 mm long, terminal petiolules up to 15 mm long.

Figure: Adaxial side of leaf

Figure: Abaxial Side of Leaf

Inflorescence: Inflorescence axillary racemes, 4-5 cm long, clustered.

Flowers: Flowers honey-scented, 4-5 merous.Sepals broadly deltoid, 1.5 mm long.Petals oblong-obovate, 14 x 8 mm, greenish-white.

Figure: Flower and young fruit of Bael

Stem: Stamens 35-45, filaments 4-7 mm long, glandular, glabrous, anthers linear-oblong, ate, c 8 mm long.

Ovary: Ovary ovoid-oblong, 3.5-5.0 mm long, faintly ridged, glabrous, greenish, 8-20 locular, styles very short, glabrous, stigmas cylindric or bluntly conical, light greenish, usually sticky, locules with many biseriate ovules.

Fruits: Fruit a subglobose berry, 5.0-12.5 cm in diameter, with a hard woody shell of 8-20 segments, grey or yellowish, many-seeded.

Figure Mature fruit of Bael

Seeds: Seeds oblong, flattened, woolly-pubescent enclosed in a sac of adhesive mucilage pulp, testa white.

Chromosome number: 2n=18, 36 (Kumar and Subramaniam)

Economic Importance: The pulp of ripe fruit is sweet and nutritious. It is eaten fresh and also prepared as sherbet, syrup, marmalade and fruit nectar. Ripe fruit is digestive,astringent, stomachic, cooling and laxative, Unripe or half ripe fruit is astringent, stomachic,digestive, antiscorbutic and is a good.

Table 1. Bael variety released by BARI and BAU