Wood-apple

Botanically it is called Feronica limorria Swingle. The unripe fruit is astringent and is administered in diarrhoea and dysentery. The ripe fruit is refreshing, aromatic, antiscorbutic, carminative, digestive, tonic and antidotal. It is often used as a stomachic.

Benefit and uses of Wood-apple.

• Hundred gm of fruit pulp contains 31 gm of carbohydrate and two gm of protein, which adds up to nearly 140 calories.
• The wood-apple is rich in beta-carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A; it also contains significant quantities of the B vitamins thiamine and riboflavin, and small amounts of Vitamin C.
• The tannin in wood-apple (bael) has an astringent effect that once led to its use as a general tonic and as a traditional cure for dysentery, diarrhoea, liver ailments, chronic cough and indigestion.
• The fruit is much used in a liver and cardiac tonic, and, when unripe, as an astringent means of halting diarrhea and dysentery and effective treatment for hiccough, sore throat and diseases of the gums.
• Wood-apple leaves, bark, roots and fruit pulp are all used against snakebite.
• Wood-apple fruit is used for kidney complaints.