Plant · P-904

Amla

Phyllanthus emblica

Amla, or Indian gooseberry, is a slow-growing deciduous tree in the spurge family, native from the Indian subcontinent through southern China and mainland Southeast Asia to Indonesia, found in mixed and dry open forest from near sea level to about 2300 metres. It reaches 15 to 18 metres on a short twisted trunk with light, feathery pinnate foliage, wants full sun and will not grow in shade, and tolerates sandy, loamy or clay soil across a wide pH range of about 5 to 8, from dry to consistently moist once established; it is drought-tolerant, fire-resistant and coppices readily, but is hardy only where winters stay essentially frost-free, roughly zone 10 and warmer, and does not take exposure to salt-laden coastal wind. Flowering needs a 12 to 13.5 hour day length and the tree is not self-fertile, so a second seedling or a different cultivar is needed nearby to set fruit; bearing starts around 6 to 8 years from a grafted tree and a mature tree can yield up to 200 kg of fruit a year. The astringent, acidic fruit is among the richest plant sources of vitamin C, eaten fresh or made into preserves, chutney and pickle, and the tree carries one of the highest medicinal ratings in its reference database as a hepatoprotective, antitussive, laxative and general Ayurvedic tonic ingredient; the wood, bark and fruit also yield tannin, dye, charcoal and green manure. Laboratory toxicity screening found the fruit extract non-toxic, but a controlled animal study found a high fruit-extract dose sharply potentiated a sulfonylurea diabetes drug, multiplying its blood-sugar-lowering effect roughly 7.5 times - a caution worth extending to other blood-sugar-lowering medication.