Sowing months
Jun–Aug
Sunlight
Full sun
Water
Fortnightly once established
Mature size
8–15 m, 3 m grafted
First harvest
Fruit from year four grafted
Family
Phyllanthaceae
Where it grows
ground, terrace
Good for
food, healing
Sow in
monsoon
Care
Buy a grafted plant; seedlings take a decade to fruit.
Feathery-leaved and drought-hardy; one grafted tree feeds a household through winter.
Growing it
Buy a grafted plant; seedlings take a decade to fruit.
What it is for
Amla murabba, juice, hair oil; leaf litter feeds the soil.