The New Nation - Internet Edition

Jamayet Ali

Kathbel is a small tree with sharp spines at the base of the compound feathery leaves, red flowers and round whitish hard-shelled fruit of the size of a large apple,which has a strong odour when ripe, and a very acrid taste not unlike that of the Bengal quince. The people of all ages sometimes eat the raw fruit with sugar. A jelly, much resembling black-currant is prepared from the pulp of the fruit which, however, has a very astringent taste. This fruit is also familiar as Elephant-apple. This name proceeds from the fact that the elephant is very fond of the fruit. This tree is planted in almost all the districts of Bangladesh for its pulp. Two types are recognised, one with small acidic fruits and the other with large sweet ones. The fruits ripen generally from November to March. It can be used for making sherbet in the same as bael. The pulp is also used in making chatney.

Analysis of the edible part of the fruit gave the following values: (Raw) - moisture 81.4; mineral matter, 2.0; K calorie 66; protein, 3.1; carbohydrate, 13.5g; calcium, 56; vitamin B-1, 0.04; vitamin B-2, 0.02 and vitamin C, 15mg/ 100g. (Ripe)- moisture, 85.6; mineral matter, .22; fibre, 5.0; K calorie, 49; protein, 3.5; fat, 0.1; carbohydrate, 8.6 g; calcium,59; iron, 0.6; vitamin B-1, 0.80; vitamin B-2, 0.03 and vitamin C, 13 mg / 100g. This fruit also contains phosphorus, 0.11; and riboflavin, 170 mg / 100g. (Food Processes and Analyses, Mohammad Yunus, BARC, Dhaka; Wealth of India, Raw Materials, Vol. IV, 19-20)

Medicinal Properties: The fruit is sour, sweet, acrid, with flavour and taste; difficult to digest; refrigerant, aphrodisiac, alexipharmic; cures cough, dysentery, heart diseases, vomiting; removes biliousness, "vata", "tridosha" , and blood impurities, fatigue, thirst, hiccough; good for throat, asthma, consumption, tumours, ophthalmia, leaucorrhoea, the juice put in the ear cures earache. The unripe fruit is alexipharmic, astringent to the bowels; removes itching of the body; increases "vata" , "pitta" and " and " kapha". The seeds cure heart diseases, headache; an antidote to poisons; the oils is acrid; astringent, alexiteric; stops hiccough and vomiting; cures rat bite and all poisonings; destroys biliousness. The flowers are an antidote to poisons. The leaves are good for vomiting, hiccough and dysentery (Ayurveda).

The fruit is sour, sweet; refrigerant, cardiotonic, tonic to the liver and the lungs, astringent and binding, diuretic; strengthening the gums; the juice is good for stomatities and sore throat; useful in biliousness; topically it relieves the pain due to stings of wasps and other insects. The leaves are very astringent (Yunani).The fruit is aromatic and used as a stomachic and stimulant in diseases of children. The unripe fruit is described as astringent, and is used in combination with bela and other medicines in diarrhea and dysentery. The ripe fruit is said to be useful in hiccough and affections of the throat. The pulp, applied externally, is a remedy for the bites of venomous insects; if not obtainable, the powdered rind may be used. The bark is occasionally prescribed for biliousness. The leaves are aromatic and carminative, and are prescribed in the indigestions and slight bowel affections of children. The fruit, root, bark and leaf are prescribed in the treatment of snake bite (Charaka, Sushruta, Vagbhata). The fruit is recommended in scorpion-sting (Charaka, Sushruta). In Cambodia, the thorns are used as a styptic in metorrhagia, the bark is a remedy for the bites and stings of venomous insects. No part of the plant is an antidate to snake venom (Mhaskar and Caius). The fruit is useless in the treatment of scorpion sting (Caius and Mhaskar) (Indian Medicinal Plants, K.R. Ktrtikar & B.D. Basu, 497-98)

Medicine: The ripe fruit, made into a sort of chatni, with oil, spices, and salt, is esteemed by the natives. The fruit itself is an aromatic antiscorbutic, and in the form of a sherbet is sometimes given to children, alone or in combination with bel fruit, as a stomachic stimulant. It is supposed to increase the appetite and to possess alexipharmic properties. The pulp is reputed to be especially useful in cases of affections of the gums and throat. It is also often applied externally as a remedy in snake bite or employed to remove the pain caused by venomous insects. But for this purpose the powdered rind may be employed if the pulp be not procurable. The Hindus regard the unripe fruit as a useful astringent in diarrhea and dysentery and Muhammadan authors, for example the writer of the Makhzan-el-Adwiya, affirm that the fruit is cold and dry in the second degree, refreshing, astringent, cardiacal and tonic, a useful remedy in salivation and sore throat, strengthening the gums and acting as an astringent. Elephant-apple is often used to adulterate bel fruit, but the two fruits should be easily enough distinguished.

The leaves are aromatic and carminative, and have the odour of anise (Ainslie). The author of the Makhzan-el-Adwiya describes them as very astringent and as possessing the taste and odour of Tarragon. Ainslie remarks that the native practitioners of South India (in his day) prescribed the leaves "in the indigestions and slight bowel affection of children". The bark is said to be sometimes prescribed for biliousness. The gum has already been alluded to. Ainslie was the first writer to affirm that in medicinal properties the gum of this tree came nearest all Indian gums to the true gum Arabic. "The Tamool practitioners prescribe solution of gum Arabic," he says, "to relieve tenesmus in bowel affections, and as we do in other cases requiring demulcents," and he states that for this purpose Feronia gum "is commonly used for medicinal purposes by all the practitioners of Lower India."

A fatty oil has been identically referred to, and although its exact source and nature have not been determined, it may here be stated that, according to some writers, this oil is not only useful in itch and other skin diseases, but in leprosy. A medicated oil is, however, also employed for these purposes which would be more correctly described as sweet oil impregnated with the pulp or powdered rind. It is probable that this preparation may be the so called Feronia oil of medical writers, unless indeed the essential oil distilled from the leaves be the substance alluded to. Considerable ambiguity, it must be admitted, exists in the literature of Feronia oil.

Special Opinions: "Unripe fruit astringent. Gum-Gum Arabic" (Thomas, Ward, Apothecary, Madanapalle, Cuddapah). "Very common in the Mysore jungles. The unripe fruit is much used for dysentery and diarrhea" (Surgeon-Major Jhon North, Bangalore). "The ripe fruit is by some said to promote digestion, by others is regarded as deleterious, bringing on rheumatism and chest complaints" (Assistant Surgeon Shib Chander Bhuttacharji, Chanda, Central Provinces) (Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, Feronia, 326-7)

Properties and uses: Fruit pulp possesses astringent, stomachic, digestive stimulant, diuretic, tonic and aphrodisiac properties. Pulp is applied externally as a remedy for bites of venomous insects and reptiles and the fruit is prescribed for the treatment oe biliousness.

The pulp is also used to cure coughs, dysentery and heart diseases, and is useful in the treatment of asthma, consumption (tuberculosis), tumours, ophthalmia, leucorrhoea and also diarrhea. Leaves are astringent, carminative and given in indigestion, flatulence, diarrhea, dysentery, vomiting, hiccup and haemorrhagic . Seeds cure heart diseases ( Medicinal Plants of Bangladesh, Abdul Ghani, second edition, 229)