AMILBED

(Citrus megaloxycarpa)

Amilbed fruits

Synonym: Citrus grandis var. megaloxycarpa

English name: Sour pumello

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            Amilbed is a citrus fruit native to India.  It mostly grows in the Assam region of the Eastern India.

            The fruits are esteemed in medicine. It has been rated as the sourest citrus fruit in Indian folklore.  They say that if a needle is inserted into an amilbed, it gets dissolved after a few minutes in its sour juice.

            Amilbed is a medium sized hardy and vigorous tree up to 4.7 m in height with upright and spreading, round and compact crown.  Trunk is 17 cm in diameter, bark iron grey with straight thorns; leaflets broadly elliptic to ovate oblong, serrate, obtuse, broadly cunceate base, scented; petiole 0.6 -1.5 cm long, narrowly winged, distinctly articulate, flowers highly fragrant, in clusters of 4-12, mostly terminal, creamy white.

            The fruits are oblong ovate, lemon yellow, rough, coarse, apex rounded to slightly nipples, base slightly depressed, rind 1.8-2.3 cm thick, strongly adhering, pulp light yellow and coarse, vesicles spindle shaped to cylindrical, loosely packed, seeds many, yellowish white, ovate conical.  These weigh from 400 – 700 g.

            This fruit is not cultivated on commercial scale but is grown in homes and gardens just for the sake of curiosity and collection.  Several cultivars of amilbed viz. Bor –tenga, Hukma-tenga, Holong-tenga and Jamir-tenga exist there in Assam.