noun
definition
Any member of the genus Areca of about fifty species of single-stemmed palms in the family Arecaceae, found in humid tropical forests.
Examples of areca in a Sentence
The coast region is characterized by mangroves, Pandanus, rattans, and similar palms with long flexible stems, and the middle region by the great rice-fields, the coco-nut and areca palms, and the usual tropical plants of culture.
The Areca palm is a native of the Malay Peninsula and Islands and is extensively cultivated over a wide area in the East, including southern India, Ceylon, Siam, the Malay Archipelago and the Philippine Islands.
The betel nut is the fruit of the Areca or betel palm, Areca Catechu, and the betel leaf is the produce of the betel vine or pan, Chavica Betel, a plant allied to that which yields black pepper.
The nuts of other species of Areca are used by the poorer classes in the East as substitutes for the genuine betel nut.
Thus the protoand per-salts of iron, as well as the protoand per-salts of tin, including also a large variety of tannin, sumac, divi-divi, chestnut, valonia, the acacias (Areca Catechu and Acacia Catechu from India), from which are obtained cutch and gambier, &c., are no longer used solely as mordants or tinctorial matters, but mainly to serve the object of converting the silk into a greatly-expanded fibre, consisting of a conglomeration of more or less of these substances."
The principal cultivated plants, apart from sugar-cane and coffee, are rice (in great variety of kinds), the coco-nut palm, the areng palm, the areca and the sago palms, maize, yams, and sweet potatoes; and among the fruit trees are the Indian tamarind, pomegranate, guava, papaw, orange and lemon.
The betel-nut or areca palm is chiefly grown in certain favoured localities, such as the deltaic districts of Bengal and the highlands of southern India.
Besides betel-nut (Areca Catechu), the palms of India include the coco-nut (Cocos nucifera), the bastard date (Phoenix sylvestris), the palmyra (Borassus flabellifer), and the true date (Phoenix dactylifera).
The jungle tribes collect gum from several varieties of trees, and in Sind the Forest Department derives a small revenue from lac. The palms of the presidency consist of cocoa-nut, date, palmyra and areca catechu.
Brunei, at this time, was a dependency of Majapahit (Java), and paid a yearly tribute of a jar of areca juice obtained from the young green nuts of the areca palm, and of no monetary value.
Flora and Faunx.-Although the vegetation of the Nicobars has received much desultory attention from scientific observers, it has not been subjected to a systematic examination by the Indian Forest Department like that of the Andamans, and indeed the forests are quite inferior in economic value to those of the more northerly group; besides fruit trees - such as the coco-nut (Cocos nucifera), the betel-nut (Areca catechu), and the mellori (Pandanus leeram) - a thatching palm (Nipa fruticans) and various timber trees have some commercial value, but only one timber tree (Myristica irya)would be considered first-class in the Andamans.
Areca catechu L. This species is cultivated in tropical Asia for its seeds, areca catechu L. This species is cultivated in tropical Asia for its seeds, areca or betel nuts.
It's actually made from the nut of the areca palm tree, combined with flavoring and sometimes other ingredients, including tobacco.