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Areca catechu

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File:Beetle palm with nut bunch.jpg
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, (Filipino: bunga, Malay: pinang, Malayalam: അടക്ക adakka), a species of palm which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. The palm is believed to have originated in either Malaysia or the Philippines.[2] Areca is derived from a local name from the Malabar Coast of India and catechu is from another Malay name for this palm, caccu.

This palm is often erroneously called the betel tree because its fruit, the areca nut, is often 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 10–15 cm in diameter. The leaves are 1.5–2 m long, pinnate, with numerous, crowded leaflets. It is also known as puga in Sanskrit and supari in Marathi and Gujarati.

Characteristics

File:Areca catechu - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-014.jpg
19th century drawing of Areca catechu

Areca catechu is grown for its commercially important seed crop, the areca nut.

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

Chemical composition

The seed contains alkaloids such as arecaine and arecoline, which, when chewed, are intoxicating and slightly addictive. Areca palms are grown in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Taiwan and many other Asian countries for their seeds.

The seed also contains condensed tannins (procyanidins) called arecatannins.[3]

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 will not fruit or reach full size. Indoors, it is a slow growing, low water, high light plant that is sensitive to spider mites and occasionally mealybugs. 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.[4][5][6] Areca nuts in Taiwan will usually contain artificial additives such as limestone powder.

The extract of Areca catechu has been shown to have antidepressant properties in rodents,[7] but it may be addictive.[8]

Gallery

  • Areca catechu Forest.JPG

    An Areca catechu plantation in Taiwan

  • Palm I IMG 2108.jpg

    Areca palm at Kolkata, West Bengal, India

  • Palm I IMG 2081.jpg

    Areca palm at Kolkata, West Bengal, India

  • Palm Fruit I IMG 2100.jpg

    Areca palm fruit at Kolkata,India

  • Betel nuts3.jpg

    Areca nuts from India

  • Areca catechu Blanco2.350.png

    Flora de Filipinas

  • Areca farm.jpg

    Areca catechu farm

  • BuahPinangMuda.jpg

    Young Beetlenuts in Malaysia

References

  1. ↑ "Areca catechu information from NPGS/GRIN". www.ars-grin.gov. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?3903. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
  2. ↑ Jones, D. (2001), Palms Throughout The World, Reed New Holland, Australia.
  3. ↑ Kusumoto, Ines Tomoco; Nakabayashi, Takeshi; Kida, Hiroaki; Miyashiro, Hirotsugu; Hattori, Masao; Namba, Tsuneo; Shimotohno, Kunitada (1995). "Screening of various plant extracts used in ayurvedic medicine for inhibitory effects on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protease". Phytotherapy Research 9 (3): 180–184. doi:10.1002/ptr.2650090305. 
  4. ↑ Thomas and MacLennan (1992). "Slaked lime and betel nut cancer in Papua New Guinea". The Lancet Oncology 340 (8819): 577–578. doi:10.1016/0140-6736(92)92109-S. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/014067369292109S. 
  5. ↑ Hemantha Amarasinghe (2010). "Betel-quid chewing with or without tobacco is a major risk factor for oral potentially malignant disorders in Sri Lanka: A case-control study". Oral Oncology 46 (4): 297–301. doi:10.1016/j.oraloncology.2010.01.017. PMID 20189448. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1368837510000308. 
  6. ↑ The World Health Organization IARC Expert Group. "IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans, Vol. 37, Tobacco Habits Other than Smoking; Betel-Quid and Areca-nut Chewing; and Some Related Nitrosamines, Lyon". IARCPress. http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol37/volume37.pdf. 
  7. ↑ Dar, Ahsana; Khatoon, Shagufta (1997). "Antidepressant Effects of Ethanol Extract of Areca catechu in Rodents". Phytotherapy Research 11 (2): 174–176. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1573(199703)11:2<174::AID-PTR65>3.0.CO;2-B. 
  8. ↑ Marcello Spinella (2001). The psychopharmacology of herbal medicine: plant drugs that alter mind, brain, and behavior. MIT Press. pp. 233–. ISBN 978-0-262-69265-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=jZeaRiIFbhsC&pg=PA233. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 

External links

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