Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa

Accepted

Bael

Aegle marmelos, commonly known as bael (or bili[1] or bhel[2]), also Bengal quince,[3] golden apple,[3] Japanese bitter orange,[4] stone apple, or wood apple, is a species of tree native to Bangladesh and India. It is present throughout Southeast Asia as a naturalized species.[5] The tree is considered to be sacred by Hindus. Its fruits are used in traditional medicine and as a food throughout its range.Bael is the only member of the monotypic genus Aegle.[5] It is a deciduous shrub or small to medium sized tree, up to 13m tall with slender drooping branches and rather shabby crown.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegle_marmelos

The bael fruit typically has a diameter of between 5 and 12 cm. It is globose or slightly pear-shaped with a thick, hard rind and is not splitting upon ripening. The woody shell is smooth and green, gray until it is fully ripe when it turns yellow. Inside are 8 to 15 or 20 sections filled with aromatic orange pulp, each section with 6 (8) to 10 (15) flattened-oblong seeds each about 1 cm long, bearing woolly hairs and each enclosed in a sac of adhesive, transparent mucilage that solidifies on drying. The exact number of seeds varies in different publications. It takes about 11 months to ripen on the tree and can reach the size of a large grapefruit or pomelo, and some are even larger. The shell is so hard it must be cracked with a hammer or machete. The fibrous yellow pulp is very aromatic. It has been described as tasting of marmalade and smelling of roses. Boning (2006) indicates that the flavor is "sweet, aromatic and pleasant, although tangy and slightly astringent in some varieties. It resembles a marmalade made, in part, with citrus and, in part, with tamarind."[8] Numerous hairy seeds are encapsulated in a slimy mucilage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegle_marmelos