Areca catechu

Areca catechu
Fruiting specimen
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Genus:	Areca
Species:	A. catechu
Binomial name
Areca catechu L.[1]

Areca catechu is the areca palm or areca nut palm, (Malay: Pinang), a species of palm which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa.

This palm is often erroneously called the betel tree because its fruit, the areca nut, is always chewed along with the betel leaf, a leaf from a vine of the Piperaceae family.

Growth

It is a medium-sized and graceful palm tree growing straight to 20 m tall, with a trunk 10-15cm in diameter. The leaves are 1.5-2 m long, pinnate, with numerous, crowded leaflets. It is also known as Puga in Sanskrit, Supari in Marathi.

Characteristics

19th century drawing of Areca catechu

Areca catechu is grown for its commercially important seed crop, the areca nut. The seed contains alkaloids such as arecaine and arecoline, which when chewed is intoxicating and is also slightly addictive. Areca palms are grown in India, Malaysia, Taiwan and many other Asian countries for their seeds.

Etymology

Penang Island, off the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, Fua Mulaku in the Maldives and Guwahati in Assam, India, are some of the places named after a local name for areca nut.

Uses

The Areca palm is also used as an interior landscaping species. It is often used in large indoor areas such as malls and hotels. It won't fruit or reach full size. Indoors it is a slow growing, low water, high light plant that is sensitive to spider mite and occasionally mealybug. The areca nut is also popular for chewing throughout some Asian countries such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippine, Malaysia, and India and the Pacific notably Papua New Guinea where it is very popular. Chewing areca nut is quite popular among working classes in Taiwan. The nut itself can be addictive and has direct link to mouth cancers. Areca nut in Taiwan will usually contain artificial additives such as limestone powder.

The extract of Areca catechu has been shown to have antidepressant properties,^[2] but it may be addictive.^[3]

Gallery

An Areca catechu plantation in Taiwan	Areca Palm at Kolkata, West Bengal, India	Areca Palm at Kolkata, West Bengal, India	Areca Palm Fruit at Kolkata,India
Areca nuts from India	Flora de Filipinas

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Areca catechu

• Plant Cultures: Betelnut botany and history
• Photos of The fruit of Areca catechu
• Areca catechu List of Chemicals (Dr. Duke's)

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