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DISTRIBUTION:
Amalaki is found widely all over India in the warmer places. It is both cultivated and found in wild. It is available throughout tropical and sub-tropical India.

PLANT DESCRIPTION & HARVESTING:
It is a small or middle sized deciduous tree reaching from 8m to 18m in height, with a crooked trunk and spreading branches.
The branchlets are finely pubescent or glabrous, 10 – 20 cm long and usually deciduous.

The leaves are simple, subsessile and closely set along the branchlets, light green resembling pinnate leaves. They are small, 10 – 13 mm in length and 2 – 3 mm broad.

Male and female flowers are borne on the same tree. Flowers are usually pale green in colour and usually set in small dense clusters below the leaves. Male flowers are small and numerous on the short stalks, while the female flowers also small but fewer.

Fruit is 1.5 – 2.5cm in diameter, fleshy, roundish, rather indistinctly marked into 6 lobes, pale green or yellowish in colour are quite smooth and hard on appearance.

Seeds are covered by hard shell, six-ribbed, splitting into three segments, each containing usually two seeds; seeds 4-5 mm long, 2 to 3 mm wide

Ripening is in autumn, the berries are harvested by hand after climbing the upper branches bearing the fruits. Generally fruits of the cultivated farms are larger.

GUNA ( PROPERTIES ):
            RASA                           :          Amla pradhana (sour), Madhura (sweet),
                                                          Kashaya (astringent), Katu (pungent), Tikta (bitter).
            GUNA                          :          Guru, Ruksha, Sheeta
            VEERYA                       :         Sheeta
            VIPAKA                        :         Madhura
            DOSHA KARMA           :        Tridoshahara

USES:
Amalaki is said to be one of the most important herbs in Ayurvedic texts. It is used widely in lots of herbal preparations for a variety of conditions. Most commonly its used in the combination of three herbs named as Triphala which contains Amalaki, Haritaki and Vibhitaki. The fresh fruits are rejuvenating and geriatric, aphrodisiac, cooling, treats bleeding disorders, mild laxative, diuretic and improves the functions of the liver. The dry fruit is cooling, appetizer, stops bleeding and is grahi in nature.

Amalaki is a very rich source of Vitamin C and is very valuable in conditions having its deficiency like scurvy. Amalaki is also being used widely for anti-oxidant purposes.

According to Ayurveda, amalaki is specific to Pitta due to its sweet taste and cooling energy. However, amalaki is thought to balance Vata by virtue of its sour taste, and Kapha due to its astringent taste and drying action. It may be used as a rasayana (rejuvenative) to promote longevity, and traditionally to enhance digestion (dipanapachana), treat constipation (anuloma), reduce fever (jvaraghna), purify the blood (raktaprasadana), reduce cough (kasahara), alleviate asthma (svasahara), strengthen the heart (hrdaya), benefit the eyes (chakshushya), stimulate hair growth (romasanjana), enliven the body (jivaniya), and enhance intellect (medhya).
Flowers, roots and bark of the tree are also medicinal, seeds are said to be helpful in curing asthma and stomach disorders.

SINGLE DRUG REMEDY:

Powder the dry fruits (without seeds) and take it with milk at bed time for a month. This is enhances the semen and sexual vigour. Dose : 10 – 15 gms.
Fresh leaves of amalaki taken with buttermilk help in indigestion and diarrhoea.
Powder of dry fruits soaked in water over night and used to wash the eyes in the morning is very useful in swelling, pain and burning sensation of the eyes.

RESEARCH:
Amalaki has undergone preliminary research, demonstrating in vitro antiviral and antimicrobial properties. There is preliminary evidence in vitro that its extracts induce apoptosis and modify gene expression in osteoclasts involved in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis.

Experimental preparations of leaves, bark or fruit have shown potential efficacy against laboratory models of disease, such as for inflammation, cancer, age-related renal disease, and diabetes.

A human pilot study demonstrated reduction of blood cholesterol levels in both normal and hypercholesterolemic men. Another very recent study with alloxan-induced diabetic rats given an aqueous amla fruit extract has shown significant decrease of the blood glucose as well as triglyceridemic levels and an improvement of the liver function caused by a normalization of the liver-specific enzyme alanine transaminase (ALT) activity.

OTHER USES:
Fruits are largely used in inks and dyes and hair shampoos and hair oils. Fruits along with twig bark are used for tanning and dyeing purposes. The high tannin content of the amalaki fruit serves as a mordant for fixing dyes in the fabrics.
Leaves are used as manure for the Cardamom plantations they are also very useful in improving the alkali soils.

PREPARATIONS OF AMALAKI: