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Myrobalan (Phyllanthus emblica)

Dlium Myrobalan (Phyllanthus emblica)

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.

This 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.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Phyllanthaceae
Subfamily: Phyllanthoideae
Tribe: Phyllantheae
Genus: Phyllanthus L. in Sp. Pl.: 981 (1753)
Species: Phyllanthus emblica L. in Sp. Pl.: 982 (1753)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Cicca emblica (L.) Kurz in Forest Fl. Burma 2: 352 (1877)
Diasperus emblica (L.) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 599 (1891)
Emblica officinalis Gaertn. in Fruct. Sem. Pl. 2: 122 (1790)
Phyllanthus mimosifolius Salisb. in Prodr. Stirp. Chap. Allerton: 391 (1796

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Cicca macrocarpa Kurz in J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 42: 239 (1873)
Diasperus pomifer (Hook.f.) Kuntze (1891)
Dichelactina nodicaulis Hance in W.G.Walpers, Ann. Bot. Syst. 3: 376 (1853)
Emblica arborea Raf. in Sylva Tellur.: 91 (1838)
Emblica pisiformis Buch.-Ham. in Trans. Linn. Soc. London 13: 506 (1822)
Phyllanthus glomeratus Roxb. ex Benth. in N.Wallich, Numer. List: n.° 7903 (1847)
Phyllanthus mairei H.Lév. in Bull. Géogr. Bot. 25: 23 (1915)
Phyllanthus pomifer Hook.f. in Fl. Brit. India 5: 289 (1887)
Phyllanthus taxifolius D.Don in Prodr. Fl. Nepal.: 63 (1825)

PUBLICATIONS

Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.

Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots'. Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.

Balakrishnan, N.P. & Chakrabarty, T. (2007). The family Euphorbiaceae in India. A synopsis of its profile, taxonomy and bibliography: 1-500. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun.

Balkrishna, A. (2018). Flora of Morni Hills (Research & Possibilities): 1-581. Divya Yoga Mandir Trust.

Chakrabarty, T. & Balakrishnan, N.P. (2018). Indo-Burmese Phyllanthaceae: A Taxonomic Revision: 1-437. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun.

Girmansyah, D. & al. (eds.) (2013). Flora of Bali an annotated checklist: 1-158. Herbarium Bogorensis, Indonesia.

Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Radcliffe-Smith, A. (2000). World Checklist and Bibliography of Euphorbiaceae (and Pandaceae) 1-4: 1-1622. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Karthigeyan, K., Pandey, R.P. & Mao, A.A. (eds.) (2023). Flora of Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2: 1-689. Botanical Survey of India. Ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

Kotiya, A., Solanki, Y. & Reddy, G.V. (2020). Flora of Rajasthan: 1-769. Rajasthan state biodiversity board.

Nurtjahya, E. & al. (2026). Flowering Plants of Bangka Island: Native and Introduced. Acta Botanica Hungarica 68: 127-156.

Pasha, M.K., Chakrabarthy, T. & Balakrishnan, N.P. (2013). A taxonomic revision of Phyllanthus L. (Euphorbiaceae) in Bangladesh. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 37: 291-304.

Smith, A.C. (1981). Flora Vitiensis Nova. A new flora for Fiji (Spermatophytes only) 2: 1-810. Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai.

Wu, Z.Y., Raven, P.H. & Hong, D.Y. (eds.) (2008). Flora of China 11: 1-622. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

van Welzen, P.C. & Chayamarit, K. (2007). Flora of Thailand 8(2): 305-592. The Forest Herbarium, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok.

VERNACULAR NAME

Aceh: Rheum
Arabic: ميروبالان
Bali: Amla
Betawi: Kemlaké, Melaké
Catalan: Amla
Chinese (simplified): 余甘子 - 油柑
Chinese (traditional): 餘甘子 - 油柑
Danish: Grå myrobalan
English: Myrobala, Myrobalan, Emblic leaf-flowered, Indian gooseberry, Myrobalan, Emblic, Emblic myrobalan, Malacca tree, Amla, Amalaki, Amloki
Finnish: Amblapuu
Flores: Karsinta
French: Myrobolan emblique, Groseillier de Ceylan
German: Amlabaum
Hebrew: מירובלן
Hindi: अम्लिका - आंवला - आंजन Amlika, Aonla, Anjan
Hong Kong: 餘甘子 - 油甘子
Indonesian: Kemloko, Malaka
Japanese: アンマロク - マラッカノキ - ユカン
Java: Kemloko, Mlåkå, Kemlåkå
Kannada: Bettada nelli kaayi
Karnataka: ನೆಲ್ಲಿ
Korean: 미로발란
Macao: 餘甘子
Madura: Mlakah
Maharashtra: आवळा
Malayalam: Amalakam, Nelli
Malaysia: Melaka, Malaka
Marathi: Amla
Melayu: Melaka, Malaka
Minangkabau: Balaka, balangka
Oria: Amla, Anula
Polish: Liściokwiat garbnikowy
Russian: Филлантус эмблика
Sanskrit: Aamlaki, Amalaka
Sinhala: නෙල්ලි
Slovak: Fylant ovocný
Taiwan: 油柑 - 餘甘子 - 油甘子
Tamil: நெல்லி Nelli
Telugu: Amalakamu, Pedda Usirikaya
Thai: มะขามป้อม
Turkish: Amlaç, Fillantus, Amile

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
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