Areca Palm, Or Bethel Palm

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Video: Areca Palm, Or Bethel Palm

Video: Areca Palm, Or Bethel Palm
Video: Areca catechu - The Betel Nut Palm. All Sorts of Varieties! 2024, March
Areca Palm, Or Bethel Palm
Areca Palm, Or Bethel Palm
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Areca tanning (lat. Areca catechu), or Areca palm, or Betel palm - a type species of plants of the genus Areca from the family of the same name Arecaceae (Latin Arecaceae), or Palm (Latin Palmaceae). The palm tree is famous for its fruits, which are popularly called nuts. Their pungent and bitter taste invigorates the human body, and therefore in many Asian countries, nuts are used for chewing. Moreover, the best effect is obtained when the nuts are combined with the leaves of a plant called "Bethel" or dried tobacco leaves.

Where does Areca palm grow

Botanists believe that the areca palm is home to the Philippines, from where the palm migrated to China and other Asian countries with a tropical climate (Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, India and others), and also reached East Africa.

In each country, people gave the palm their own name, and therefore the tree has a large number of different names. In addition to those already listed, there are, for example, more such as "Indian walnut", "Areca walnut palm". The widespread name "Bethel palm" the tree earned because its nuts acted on the nervous system with a great relaxing effect when people chewed them together with the leaves of the plant "Betel" (Latin Piper betle), belonging to the genus Pepper (Latin Piper) …

Description

Areca catechu is a medium-sized palm tree. Its erect trunk rises to a height of 20 - 30 meters, with a trunk diameter of 15 to 50 centimeters. The underground part of the palm tree is represented by numerous branched roots. Scars remain on the trunk of the palm tree from falling leaves, turning it into a decorative ringed pillar.

The feathery leaves form a lush crown at the top of the trunk. The bases of the leaves cover the upper part of the trunk, creating a "green crown", from which leaf petioles deviate in different directions. Each leaf consists of numerous long and narrow leaves with sharp tips and parallel veins, sitting tightly on a common petiole. The length of the leaf varies from 1.5 to 2 meters. The number of simultaneously growing leaves ranges from 8 to 12 pieces.

One meter tall flower stalks bear inflorescences, the initial form of which at the beginning of life is an ear of flowers. Opening, the flowers create a paniculate inflorescence of a creamy white color. The flowers of the palm are unisexual, but on one peduncle there are both female and male flowers, that is, the areca palm is a monoecious plant.

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The top of the growing cycle is orange or red fruits, which are drupes up to seven centimeters long. A bone up to 2.5 centimeters long, called "betel nut", is protected by a brown or reddish woody shell and wrapped in a fibrous dry shell. It is the fruit bone that is used for chewing, for the sake of which people grow the Areca palm.

The chemical composition of palm seeds

Betel palm seeds contain alkaloids such as arecoline and askaidine, which, when chewed, cause a person to become mildly intoxicated. It would not be so dangerous for the human body if the seeds did not contain condensed tannins called arecanins, which are carcinogenic substances that provoke malignant tumors.

Usage

Besides the fact that palm seeds are used as chewing gum to excite the human nervous system, there are other uses for different parts of the palm.

Palm seeds contain a red pigment that not only colors the mouths of chewers, but is also used in the cotton industry to dye fabrics red.

The chemical elements contained in palm seeds are used for medicinal purposes.

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