Areca catechu

Areca Catechu

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Areca catechu

Areca catechu is the areca palm or areca nut palm, (Malay

Malay language

The Malay language is an Austronesian languages spoken by the Malays and people of other ethnic groups who reside in Peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau Islands and parts of the coast of Borneo....
: Pinang), a species of palm

Arecaceae

Palm or Palmae or Panamea , the palm family, is a family of flowering plants belonging to the Monocotyledon order, Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known Genus with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate climates....
which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, and parts of east Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
.

This palm is often erroneously called the betel tree because its fruit, the areca nut, is always chewed along with the betel leaf

Betel

The Betel is the leaf of a vine belonging to the Piperaceae family, which includes Black pepper and Kava. It is valued both as a mild stimulant and for its medicinal properties....
, a leaf from a vine of the Piperaceae

Piperaceae

Piperaceae is the botanical name for a family of flowering plants. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists: it is sometimes known as the "pepper family"....
family.

s a medium-sized and graceful palm tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
growing straight to 20 m tall, with a trunk 20-30 cm in diameter.

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Growth

It is a medium-sized and graceful palm tree

TREE

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are 1.5-2 m long, pinnate, with numerous, crowded leaflets. It is also known as Puga in Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
, Supari in Marathi.

Characteristics

Areca catechu is grown for its economically important seed crop, the areca nut. The seed contains alkaloid

Alkaloid

Alkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds containing base nitrogen atoms. The name derives from the word alkaline and was used to describe any nitrogen-containing base....
s such as arecaine and arecoline

Arecoline

Arecoline is an alkaloid-type natural product found in the areca nut, the fruit of the areca palm . It is an oily liquid that is soluble in water, alcohols, and ether....
, which when chewed is intoxicating and is also slightly addictive. Areca palms are grown in India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, Malaysia

Malaysia

Malaysia is a federation that consists of States of Malaysia in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government....
, Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
and many other Asian countries for their seeds.

Etymology

Penang

Penang is a States of Malaysia in Malaysia, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. Penang is the second smallest state in Malaysia after Perlis, and the eighth most populous....
Island, off the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia , also known as Malaya or West Malaysia, is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula, and shares a land border with Thailand in the north....
, Fua Mulaku in the Maldives

Maldives

The Maldives , or Maldive Islands, officially the Republic of Maldives, is an island nation consisting of a Atolls of the Maldivess stretching south of India's Lakshadweep islands between Minicoy Island and the Chagos Archipelago, and about seven hundred kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka in the Laccadive Sea of Indian Ocean....
and Guwahati

Guwahati

Guwahati is a major city in eastern India, often considered as the gateway to the North East India Region of the country and is the largest city within the region....
in Assam

Assam

Assam ) is a North-East India state of India with its capital at Dispur, in the outskirts of the city Guwahati. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak River river valleys and the Karbi Anglong District and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles ....
, 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 mealy bug. The areca nut is also popular for chewing throughout some Asian countries such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippine, Malaysia, and India. 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, but it may be addictive.

Areca catechu

Growth

Characteristics

Etymology

Uses

External links

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