Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Phyllanthus emblica - Emblic, Myrobalan

Edible Portion: Seeds, Fruit, Leaves, Flower Petals, Tea

A small deciduous tree. It grows 2-20 m tall. The trunk is bent and has many branches. The branches are spreading. The bark is greyish-brown and peels off in flakes. The leaves are pale green and feathery. New leaves are pinkish. The leaves have short stalks. The leaves are 1-1.5 cm long by 0.2-0.3 cm wide. The leaves are arranged on slender branches to appear like feathery compound leaves. They are like tamarind leaves. Male and female flowers occur on different trees. The flowers are small and yellow. They are densely clustered on the branches. The fruit are small and yellow to green. They are 2 cm across and edible. They have 6-8 faint lines along them. They are fleshy and edible. They are sour. Some improved kinds have fruit 8 -9 cm across. The seeds are 3 sided.