Economic Botany-Morphology and Cultivation of Terminalia bellerica (Baheda)
Botanical name: Terminalia
bellerica Family:
Combretaceae ;Common name:Bahera, Vibhitaki
The plant is also known
as Bhibhitaki/Vibhitaki a Sanskrit word means fearless, that takes way fear of
disease.
Due to its medicinal properties tree has Sanskrit synonym of Anila-Ganaka, or wind-killing. The generic name ‘Terminalia’ is derived from Latin word ‘terminus’ or terminalis (ending), which means habit of the leaves being crowded or borne on the tips of shoots.
Habitat-
It grows wild at an elevation of upto 2000m in wide variety of ecologies.
It is native to Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nepal,Cambodia and Vietnam.
In India, it is commonly found in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra.
Morphology of
plant:
It is large deciduous
tree with the height of 50m with a rounded crown. It is branchless upto 20m. It
is perennial and requires cold climate.
Bark: The plant posses characteristic bark. The outer bark is bluish or ashy-grey whereas inner-bark is yellow in colour. The bark contains number of longitudinal cracks.
Leaves: Young leaves
are copper red in colour which turn into parrot green and later they become
dark green. Leaves are large, alternate, glabrous, mostly clustered at the twig
ends. Leaf tip is narrowly pointed. Base of the leaf is rounded. Secondary and
tertiary venation are prominent on both the surfaces generally clustered
towards the ends of branchlets. Petiole is flat above, with pair of sessile
glands just above the middle, sometimes indistinct. Lamina is broad elliptical
or broad obovate. Apex is rounded to abruptly short acuminate. Margin is
entire.
It has Spike infloroscence. Flowers solitary, small, 3-15 cm long, greenish white, simple, axillary spikes; calyx tube densely sericeous; flowers appear along with new leaves and have a strong honey-like smell
Flowering: It flowers in the month
of October-November and fruits in November-December. The tree sheds leaves in
November with young ones appearing together with flowers.
The fruit is a globular
drupe with a characteristic five-ribbed and five-angled shape.
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