Areca catechu

Ho'omaluhia, Hawaii

Areca catechu

Singapore

Scientific Classification

Genus:	Areca
Species:	catechu

Synonyms

None set.

Native Continent

Asia

Morphology

Habit:	Solitary
Leaf type:	Pinnate

Culture

Survivability index

Common names

None.

Description

Reaching 60 feet (20 meter) tall; trunk diameter is 8 - 12 inch (20 – 30 cm). Trunk: solitary, slender and erect. Origin: Indonesia, but now also growing in Suriname. Leaf: up to 7' long, broad leaflets, the tips being jagged. Flower stalk: whitish; sweet scented; from below the crown shaft on a branching spadix. Fruit: orange-yellow when ripe, to 2.5 inch long (betel nuts). It has a fleshy pericarp and fibrous mesocarp. Seed: Areca catechu is grown for the important seed crop, the Betel nut. The nut itself is brown, oval and flattened at one end. The fruit flesh on the seed has psychoactive properties (stimulating effects) and in South-east Asia is used as such by chewing on the fruit. It produces euphoria, heightened alertness, sweating, salivation, a hot sensation in the body and an increased capacity to work. The alkaloid arecoline found in the nut, accounts for these effects. However there may be undesirable side effects associated with chewing on the fruit such as an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, sweating and body temperature. Betel chewing also increases plasma concentrations of norepinephrine and epinephrine. The Betelnut is also used as an offering in Hinduism.