Koovalam

Planted in the memory of Ashfaqulla Khan on the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav

Overview & Habitat

Aegle marmelos, commonly referred to as Bael (or Bili or Bhel), is a native species of tree in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and cultivated in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu, Thailand, and Malaysia.
The tree holds religious and cultural significance, especially for Hindus and Buddhists.
It grows in dry, open forests on hills and plains at altitudes up to 1,200 m (3,937 ft).
The tree is known in India for thriving in places where other trees cannot.
It copes with a wide range of soil conditions, is tolerant of waterlogging, and has an unusually wide temperature tolerance.
A pronounced dry season is required for the tree to bear fruit.

Aegle marmelos is found in India, Pakistan, and several neighboring countries.
It grows as a deciduous shrub or small tree, typically reaching up to 13 m in height.
The bark is pale brown or grayish and exudes a viscous sap when cut.
The sticky sap, akin to gum arabic, transforms from sweet to irritating on the tongue.

The pale green or yellowish flowers are clustered at the end of twigs and leaf axils and are sweetly fragrant.
Flowers typically appear with young leaves, with many stamens having short filaments and pale brown, short style anthers.

The fruit has a thick woody shell encasing the slightly pear-shaped fruit, filled with aromatic orange pulp and mucilaginous seeds.
The shell is smooth and green or gray until fully ripe, when it turns yellow.
The fruit takes about 11 months to ripen on the tree and can reach the size of a large grapefruit or pomelo, with some even larger.

The trifoliate leaves of Aegle marmelos are ovate with tapering or pointed tips and a rounded base, either untoothed or with shallow rounded teeth.
Young leaves are pale green or pinkish, finely hairy, while mature leaves are dark green and completely smooth.

The leaves of Aegle marmelos are used in the worship of a lingam, the icon of Shiva.
The fruits are rich in vitamin C and are eaten fresh from trees or dried and made into candy, toffee, pulp powder, or nectar.
When fresh, the juice is strained and sweetened to make a drink similar to lemonade called Bela Pana, with one large bael fruit yielding five or six liters of pana.
If the fruit is to be dried, it is usually sliced and sun-dried, and the hard leathery slices are immersed in water.
The leaves and small shoots are eaten as salad greens.
Bael fruits are used in the diet, and the fruit pulp is used to prepare delicacies like murabba, puddings, and juices.
The leaves, bark, roots, fruits, and seeds are used in traditional medicine to treat various illnesses.

Among Bael’s complex mix of compounds is aegeline, consumed as a dietary supplement for weight loss.
In 2013, aegeline became the focus of a major public health investigation.
Aegeline was found in a reformulated dietary supplement called OxyElite Pro, marketed by USPLabs as a weight loss product.
USPLabs, previously under scrutiny by the FDA for dangerous ingredients in earlier formulations, replaced one risky chemical with another without notifying regulatory authorities.
The result was a hepatitis outbreak affecting 97 people, primarily in Hawaii.
Several victims suffered severe liver damage, three required liver transplants, and one person died.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with state health officials, launched an investigation into the outbreak.
Doctors at Hawaii’s Queen’s Medical Center reported acute liver injuries in otherwise healthy individuals who had used the supplement.
OxyElite Pro had been marketed as a safe reformulated product, but the new ingredient, aegeline, was far from harmless.
The exact mechanism of how aegeline damages the liver remains unclear, but its role in the outbreak is undeniable.

The Aegle marmelos tree has long held a sacred place in Hindu and Buddhist traditions.
Considered a divine tree, its leaves are used in religious ceremonies, particularly those honoring the god Shiva.
Its trifoliate leaves symbolize the trident of Shiva, while the tree itself is linked to goddess Lakshmi, the deity of wealth.
Bael trees are also considered an incarnation of the goddess Sati.
Cultural reverence for Bael spans thousands of years, with the earliest evidence appearing in the Sri Sukta of the Rigveda.
In the traditional practice of the Newar culture of Nepal, the Bael tree is part of a fertility ritual for girls called Bel Bibaaha.
In the Bel Bibaaha ritual, girls are married to the bael fruit; as long as the fruit remains safe and uncracked, the girl can never become widowed, even if her human husband dies.
This ritual guarantees that widows in the Newar community hold a higher status than other women in Nepal.

1st Floor, KSIDC Investment Zone
SDF 2, Canal Pirivu, Palakkad
Kerala - 678621 India

2B, Mayflower
Brookefields Apartments
Sastri Road, RS Puram
Coimbatore – 641002
Tamil Nadu, India

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Business Bay, Dubai
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