Medicinal Bilimbi

BILIMBI, botanically known as Averrhoa bilimbi (Family: oxalidaceae) is probably one of the very few plants familiar by a common name in different parts of India. It is a small tree that grows upto a height of four or six metres. Bilimbi is considered to be a native of Malaysia and cultivated in gardens in India and Burma.

The leaves of the Bilimbi are entire and oblong with the base usually rounded. The plant flowers from the trunk and branches. The fruits are oblong and obtusely lobed and have medicinal properties. Being acidic in taste, the fruits are generally cooked alongwith other vegetables and grains to render them more palatable and digestible. They are also used in making pickles. In Malaysia, the fruits are used like cucumber and are also canned and preserved.

The fruits are said to have astringent, stomachic, refrigerant and antiscorbutic properties in traditional medical literature. A syrup made by heating the juice of the ripe fruit with sugar and water on a slow fire, is useful in relieving thirst, febrile excitement and also in some cases of haemorrhage from the bowels, stomach and internal haemorrhoids. The fruit in the form of curry is useful as a dietary supplement to treat piles and scurvy.

In French Guyana, the syrup or the decoction of the fruit is prescribed in inflammatory conditions chiefly in hepatitis. It is also administered to relieve fever, diarrhoea and bilious colic.

DR. E. SUKUMAR

E. RAJARAJAN

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