Datasheet:Areca catechu ---1. NOMENCLATURESynonyms:--- Areca guavaua nom. nud.
Common Names --- (english): Adike, arbor areka, areca, areca nut palm, arecanut tree, arecapalme, arecca, arekapalme, arekpalme, arequero
Common Names (non-english): ---
(Portuguese) ar'equier, ar'equir, arreck, ataykkamaram, avellana d'India, betelnuBpalme, betelnut tree, betel palm, buoga, blaubaum, catechupalme, fobal, fufal
(Arabic) f^ufal, ghowa, gooroaka, goorrecanut palm, gouvaka
(Sanskrit) gurvaca, kamuku, kamunnu, kavunnu
(Malayalam) mak, noix d'arec, paan suparim, pak-ku, pakkumaram
(Tamil) pan of India, papal
(Persian) pinang
(Malay) pinangpalme, pinglang,, tambul tuuffel puga, pugah
(Sanskrit) puwak, pyan, pyanbaum, sopari
(Hindi) supari, surattu supray
Taxonomic Position: --- Arecaccae, Palmae (Palm Family); Subfamily Ceroxylinae-Arecineae, Araceae tribe
2. DESCRIPTIONPlant Type: --- Palm Tree
Morphology: --- This fan palm tree can grow as tall as 25 meters and develop a trunk between 30 and 50 cm in diameter. The loculate fronds grow to some 2 meters in length. The male and female flowers are found in spadices located below the leaves. The palm can produce up to three such spadices, each which yields 150-200 fruits. The ovoid fruits, which can be as long as 7 cm in length, contain one brown, reticulate seed (the endosperm, or actual betel nut) that can weigh from 3 to 10 grams.
Similarity to Other Species: --- The betel palm is easily confused with the Caribbean kind palm (
Roystonea regia) and with some species of the genus
Veitchia, found in the Philippines and Oceania. It is difficult to distinguish from the closely related species Areca triandra Roxb. (India) and Areca vestiaria.
3. DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGYGeographical Distribution: --- Almost all betel palms have been planted by humans. Since it can thrive only in regions with tropical rainforests, it is limited to such areas in Hindustan, Indochina, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the Maldives, Madagascar, Egypt, East Africa, Arabia, Southern China, Taiwan, INdonesia, Malaysia, Fiji, and Melanesia. Betel palms grow wild in Malabar(India)
Native Habitat: --- The origin of the assumed wild form has not been ascertained, although it may have come from the Sunda Isles or the Philippines
Hardiness and Environmental Requirements: ---
Soil Requirements: --- The betel palm can grow in a variety of soil types.
4. PROPAGATION AND CYCLETypes of Propagation: --- Cultivation is performed using pregerminated seeds.
Seed Germination Notes: ---
Life Cycle: --- The saplings need to grow in the shade, as they may otherwise fall victim to the intense tropical sun. It is for this reason that trees that grow quickly and provide shade (e.g.,
Erythrina indica Lam) are first planted in betel palm plantations.
5. HISTORY AND CULTURE ---
The name areca, which means "cavalier", may be derived from the Kanarese word
adeke or the Malayalam
adakka. In early Sanskrit works, the palm is referred to as
gouvaka. It was already mentioned in Jataka and Pali writings. The first description of the palm, however, is purportedly that of Herodotus (ca. 340 B.C.E). Later, both the palm and the chewing of the betel were more or less precisely discussed by many Arabic and European travelers (e.g., Abd Allah Ibn Ahmad, Marco Polo, Vasco De Gamma, Garcia De Orta) in their travel reports. The british traveler R. Knox, in his
Historical Relation of the island of Ceylon, was obviously impressed, and he described both the use of the betel nut and its economic significance. The first European pictorial representation of the betel nut is a copperplate engraving by Carolus Clusius in
Aromatum ey simplicium aliquot medicamentorum....historia6. PROPERTIES AND BENEFITSDocumented properties: --- Arecoline, the primary alkaloid, is a parasympathomimetic. It has stimulating effects, strongly promotes salivation, and has anthelmintic(worm killing) properties; it can also induce brachycardia (deceleration of the heartbeat) and tremors.
Parts of the plant with therapeutic/psychoactive value: --- The seed, or nut of the fruit.
Phytochemical Information: --- The seeds contain various alkaloids (0.3 to 0.6%) of a relatively simple chemical structure: 0.1 to 1.5% arecoline (primary alkaloid), as well as arecaine, arecaidine, arecolidine, guvacoline, isoguvacine, and guvacine. Tanning agents (tannins: galotannic acid, gallic acid, D-catechol, phlobatannin), mucilage, resin, carbohydrates (saccharose, galactan, mannan), proteins, saponines, carotene, minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iron), and fat (sitosterol) are also present. When betel nuts are chewed in combination with slaked lime, the alkaloid arecoline is transformed into arecaidine.
6. REFERENCES AND CITATIONSSTS Threads with Information: ---
External Links: ---
http://www.erowid.org/plants/betel/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areca_nuthttp://www.drugs.com/npc/betel-nut.htmlhttp://www.healthline.com/natstandardcontent/betel-nuthttp://www.kew.org/plant-cultures/plants/betelnut_grow_it.htmlhttp://srinidhifarm.com/tips_arecanut.phphttp://libweb.hawaii.edu/libdept/scitech/agnic/betel-cultivation.htmlCitation Sources: ---
Encyclopedia Of Psychoactive Plants - Ethnopharmacology and its Applications by Christian Ratsch, Forward by Albert Hoffman
Author
Topic: [DATASHEET] Areca catechu (Betel Nut) (Read 12885 times)