BAHERA

Common name:
Belleric myrobalan / Belliric myrobalan, Bastard Myrobalan, baida
Scientific name:
Terminalia bellirica
Distribution:
India: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Tripura, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh; Bangladesh, Indo-china, Malay Peninsula, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka, Thailand.
Description:
Habit
Large deciduous trees, buttressed, up to 40 m tall.
Trunk & Bark
Bark whitish, longitudinally fissured.
Branches and Branchlets
Branchlets terete, glabrous.
Leaves
Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, clustered at the twig ends; petiole 3-10 cm long; flat above, with pair of sessile
glands just above the middle, sometimes indistinct; lamina 8-20 x 4-14 cm, broad elliptic or broad obovate,
apex rounded to abruptly short acuminate, base cuneate, margin entire, coriaceous, pubescent, when young on
both sides, later glabrous; midrib flat above; secondary nerves 6-8 pairs, gradually curved; tertiary nerves
reticulo-percurrent.
Inflorescence / Flower
Inflorescence axillary spikes; flowers sessile, creamy white.
Fruit and Seed
Drupe, globose or ovoid, slightly 5 ridged, 3 cm across; 1-seeded.
Parts used:
Fruits.
Chemical constituents:
Terminalia bellirica fruit contains about 17% tannin substances. Heartwood, bark, and fruits contain ellagic
acid and the seed coat of the fruit contains a gallic acid. Seeds contain about 20 to 25% yellow oil.
Therapeutic properties and uses:
Fruit is useful in cough, hoarseness, and eye diseases. It is one of the constituents of "triphala", which is
prescribed in diseases of the liver and gastrointestinal tracts.
Oil expressed from the kernel is used as a dressing for the hair; also externally it is applied in rheumatism.
Unripe fruit is purgative. Dried ripe fruit is astringent and employed in dropsy, piles, and diarrhea.
Preparation and Doses:
Powder - 1 to 3 gr.