522 PALMJE. 



bowl is of the same substance as the sbell of the nut, only much 

 thicker; it rots very slowly, for it has been found quite perfect 



and entii-e in every respect sixty years after the tree has been 

 cut down.'^ The fruits are covered externally wdth a thick 

 fibrous husk, and contain usually one, but sometimes two or 

 even three immense nuts with hard thick black shells^ each 

 being divided half-way down into two lobes. The kernel is 

 from three-quarters to one inch thick, and very hard and white, 

 having much the consistence of vegetable ivory: it has no odour 

 or taste ; when soaked in water it softens a little, and can be 

 split into thin fibrous bundles. 



Microscopic structure. — The kernel is composed of spindle- 

 shaped cells having a central cavity, from which club-shaped 

 canals extend to the cell-wall, w^here they are opposed to simi- 

 lar canals belonging to a neighbouring cell. 



Commerce.— The nuts are an article of export from the 

 Seyctellcs ; tundreds of them may be seen at Port Victoria, 

 Make, wHther they are brought from the ishmd of Prasliu. 

 Yahie in Bombay, Re. 1^ per lb. for the dry kernel. 



Entire nuts fetch from Re. 1 to Rs. 2 each, according to 

 their size. 



ARECA CATECHU, Li 



tin. 



Fig,^Iioxb. Cor. PL «., t 75; £entl. and. Trim., t. 276. 



Cul- 



Arecapalm [Eng.)^ Arec cultive {Fr.). 



Hab.—Cochin-China, Malay Peninsula a 

 tiv ated throughout tropical India. The seed. 



Ver mcular .—^xvgiv'x {Hind., Beng., Guz., Mar,), Kamugu, 



Pakku {Tarn.), Poku-vakka, Vakka [Tel), Adike {Can.), Adaka 

 {Mai). 



History, Uses, &C.— The betel -nut, in Sanskrit Guvaka, 

 Puga, and Kramuka, is a masticatory of great antiquity in the 

 East. In the Panchadandachattrapmhandha, Bevaaamani, " she 

 who compels the gods," goes to the court of king Vikramaditya 

 to play with him, dressed in a sky-blue robe, having in her 



