Myrobalan (Phyllanthus emblica)

Kemloko or myrobalan (Phyllanthus emblica) is a plant species in the Phyllanthaceae, a small to medium sized tree, 1-8 meters high, branches not bare or finely pubescent, 10-20 cm long, growing in lowlands which are dry and fire resistant.

The leaves are simple, subsessile and densely arranged along the branches, bright green and pinnate. Flowers are greenish yellow. The fruit is almost round, yellow-green, rather smooth, hard, six vertical lines, up to 26 mm in diameter and 5-56 grams in weight. Fibrous fruit, has a sour, bitter and astringent taste.

The fruit contains high amounts of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and has a bitter taste which may come from the high density of ellagitannins such as emblicanin A (37%), emblicanin B (33%), punigluconin (12%) and pedunculagin (14%). The fruit also contains punicafolin and phyllanemblinin A, phyllanemblinin other polyphenols such as flavonoids, kaempferol, ellagic acid and gallic acid.

Stem, roots, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds are used in traditional medicine and are an important ingredient in Ayurvedic medicine. The fruit is cooked with sugar water to be processed as candied fruit. Fruit extracts are used as traditional coloring agents.

The Malacca tree is one of the sacred trees according to Hinduism. Originally from India and Nepal, in the past the Malacca tree was widely planted in Java, and now some of it is found in dry lowland forests. This tree is fire resistant.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Phyllanthaceae
Subfamily: Phyllanthoideae
Tribe: Phyllantheae
Genus: Phyllanthus
Species: Phyllanthus emblica

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