Changes

*Bael or bel fruit (En). *Bel Indien (Fr)

*Small deciduous tree, 10-15 m tall, trunk 25-50 cm in diameter. Older branches spiny; spines single or paired, 1-2 cm long. *Leaves alternate, trifoliolate; petiole 2-4 cm long, lateral petiolules up to 3 mm, terminal up to 15 mm long; lateral leaflets ovate to elliptic, up to 7 cm × 4.2 cm, terminal obovate, up to 7.5 cm × 4.8 cm, densely minutely glandular-punctate. *Inflorescences axillary racemes, 4-5 cm long, clustered; sepals broadly deltoid, 1.5 mm long; petals oblong-obovate, 14 mm × 8 mm, greenish to white; stamens 35-45, white, filaments 4-7 mm long; ovary 8 mm × 4 mm, style very short. *Fruit a subglobose berry, 5-12.5 cm diameter, often with a hard woody shell, of 8-16(-20) segments, with 6-10 seeds in a clear, sticky, edible pulp. *Seeds woolly-pubescent, enclosed in a sac of adhesive mucilage which solidifies on drying; testa white.