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       Emblic Myrobalan is the dried mature fruit of Phyllanthus emblica L. (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) (Family Euphorbiaceae), Herbarium Specimen Number:  DMSC 904. 

Constituents  Emblic Myrobalan contains ascorbic acid, rutin, mucic acid, gallic acid, phyllemblic acid, etc.

Description of the plant  (Figs. 1a, 1b)  Small or medium-sized tree, up to 20 m tall, deciduous, with crooked trunk and spreading branches; bark greenish grey, peeling off in conchoidal flakes; branchlets glabrous or finely pubescent, 10 to 20 cm long.  Leaves imbricate when young, subsessile, 0.5 to 2.5 cm long, 1.5 to 5.5 mm wide, closely set along the branchlets,  distichous, light green, glabrous, narrowly linear, obtuse, having appearance of pinnate leaves; stipule minute, ovate, finely acute.  Flower small, monoecious, apetalous, greenish yellow, in axillary fascicles on the leaf-bearing branchlets, often on the naked portion below the leaves, with fimbricate bracts at the base.  Male flowers numerous, on short slender pedicel; calyx-lobes 6, oblong, obtuse, 1.2 mm long; anthers 3, filaments united in a short central column; disk-glands 6, alternating with the calyx-segments.  Female flowers few, subsessile or sessile; calyx as in the male; ovary 3-celled, half immersed in the lacerate, cup-shaped disc, style connate at the base, stigmas 3, bilobed, lobes dilated, recurved.  Fruit sessile, 1.3 to 2.7 cm in diameter, fleshy, globose or depress globose, with 6 longitudinal faint lines, glabrous, lucid, pale yellow; endocarp of triangular cocci, bony, dehiscent, with 3 short bundles of vascular tissue at the base.  Seeds 6, trigonous. 

Description  Odour, slightly aromatic; taste, slightly sour and astringent.

      Macroscopical  (Fig. 1a)  Entire fruit, subspherical, wrinkled, about 1.3 to 2 cm in diameter, often dehiscent; fruit pulp dark brown  to black, coriaceous; endocarp, brown, hard, globular, acutely hexangular; testa brown; seed brown, bony, trigonous.

      Microscopical  (Figs. 2a, 2b)  Transverse section of the fruit pulp shows a layer of epicarp.  Parenchyma, thin-walled ground tissue, containing prismatic crystals in some cells.  Sclereid, lignified, occurring in 3 forms:  rectangular sclereid, occurring in groups of a large number of cells near epicarp, containing water-soluble grey masses; spherical sclereid, occurring as single cell or in small groups of 2 to 10 cells; fibrous sclereid, occurring in bundles of 2 to  5 cells.  Vascular bundle, lignified, composed of fibres and spiral vessels.  Tannin granules, found in parenchyma, more often in the inner layer than in the outer layer.

    Emblic Myrobalan in powder possesses the diagnostic microscopical characters of the fruit pulp with additional characters: sclerenchyma; thick-walled parenchyma, containing reddish masses. 

Additional information  As an expectorant, it is suggested to frequently sip a juice freshly prepared by squeezing 10 to 30 fresh fruits of emblic myrobalan.

Packaging and storage  Emblic Myrobalan shall be kept in well-closed containers, protected from light, and stored in a dry place.

Identification

      A. Reflux 1 g of the sample, in powder, with 20 mL of water for 10 minutes and filter (solution 1).  To 2 mL of solution 1, add a few drops of sodium hydrogencarbonate TS and iron(II) sulfate TS:  a deep violet colour develops.  Then add 0.5 mL of a 6 per cent v/v solution of sulfuric acid:  a deep violet colour disappears.

      B. To 2 mL of solution 1, add 1 mL of ethanol and shake well:  a white gelatinous mass is produced.

      C. Reflux 1 g of the sample, in powder, with 25 mL of ethanol for 15 minutes, and filter (solution 2).  To 2 mL of solution 2, add a few drops of iron(III) chloride TS:  a blue-black colour develops. 

      D. To 1 mL of solution 2, add a few drops of fuming nitric acid:  a red colour develops.

      E. Carry out the test as described in the “Thin-Layer Chromatography” (Appendix 3.1), using silica gel GF254 as the coating substance and a mixture of 50 volumes of toluene, 40 volumes of ethyl formate and 10 volume of formic acid as the mobile phase and allowing the solvent front to ascend 10 cm above the line of application.  Apply separately to the plate, 20 μL of solution (A) and 1 μL of solution (B).  Prepare solution (A) by refluxing 500 mg of the sample, in powder, with 10 mL of ethanol for 10 minutes and filtering.  To the filtrate, add 500 mg of decolorizing charcoal, reflux for a few minutes, filter, wash the filter paper and the funnel with small amount of ethanol, and adjust to 10 mL with ethanol.  For solution (B), dissolve 3 mg of gallic acid in 1 mL of ethanol.  After removal of the plate, allow it to dry in  air and examine under ultraviolet light (254 nm), marking the quenching spots.  The chromatogram obtained from solution (A) shows a quenching spot (hRf value 43 to 44) corresponding to the gallic acid spot from solution (B), and one spot of lower hR_f value.  Spray the plate with iron(III) chloride TS; the spot due to gallic acid is blue-black and the other blue-black spot is observed (Table 1); see also Fig. 3.

Table 1 hR_f Values of Components in Ethanolic Extract of the Fruits of Phyllanthus emblica L.

       *gallic acid

Loss on drying  Not more than 9.0 per cent w/w after drying at 105° to cons tant weight (Appendix 4.15).

Acid-insoluble ash  Not more than 1.0 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.6).

Total ash  Not more than 4.0 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.7).

Ethanol-soluble extractive  Not less than 16.0 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.12).

Water-soluble extractive  Not less than 26.0 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.12).

Tannins content  Not less than 20.0 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.21H).  Use 4 g of Emblic Myrobalan, in fine powder, accurately weighed.

Dose  6 to 12 g a day, as a decoction, sip as needed.