Areca catechu

General Description:

Areca catechu a tree with annulate stem, 12.18m in height, some trees reaching up to 30m, widely distributed in the coastal regions from Maharashtra to Kerala and Tamil Nadu and in the Deccan Plateau, in Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, It is also cultivated in the areas of its ocurrence for its nuts which are commercially important. Stem surmounted by a crown of pinnate leaves, 1.2-1.8m long; leaflets numerous, 30-60cm long upper pinnae confluent, glabrous, petioles expanded into a broad, tough, shealth like growth at the lower end; spathe double, compressed, glabrous; spadices much-branched, bearing ebracteate male and female flowers; male flowers small, numerous, sessile; female flowers solitary or in groups of two or three, at or near the base of each ramification of the spadix, sessile, much larger than the male; bisexual flowers have also been recorded; fruits ovoid or oblong, 4-5cm long, smooth, orange or scarlet when fully ripe, single-sided, with persistent perianth and fibrous mesocarp; endosperm or seed-kernel, popularly called the "Arecanut:, 2-4cm in diam, greyish brown, ruminate with reddish brown lines.