THE BETEL-NUT PALM 



ARECA 

 CATECHU 



History 



utlv mills have been opened in Calcutta and elsewhere in Bengal Bengal. 

 fur tin- manufacture of this oil. Already these new mills have had the 

 if rherkiiiL' the imports of the oil that formerly came from Pondi- 

 herrv and Madras, and they have given birth instead to a large import 

 in the nuts. One of the chief markets for the South Indian ground- 

 nut oil has hern the supply required by Burma. From recent corre- 

 I MM hlt-iirc hope is entertained of the Shan States being able to meet the supply from 

 iirma demand. For information regarding the CHEMISTRY of the oil and 

 1 the oilcake and their values as articles of food, as also the medicinal 

 nd industrial uses of these and other products of the ground-nut, the 

 reader is referred to The Agricultural Ledger (1893, No. 15) and to the 

 ew Bulletin (1901, 194), more especially the particulars given regarding 

 lie pea-nut flour and biscuits. It seems probable that as an article of 

 bod during military operations, special preparations of the pea-nut may 

 ave a great future. For microscopic examination of pea-nut cake consult 

 anausek (Micro. Tech. Prod. (Winton and Barber, transl.), 1907, 387-91). 



ARECA CATECHU, Linn.; Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 405-6; Gamble, 

 an. Ind. Timbs., 726 ; Talbot, List. Trees, etc., 1902, 339 ; Rec. Bot. Surv. 

 nd., ii., 347 ; Agri. Ledg., 1900, No. 4 ; 1901, No. 8 ; Mollison, Textbook 

 nd. Agri., iii., 256-62 ; Mukerji, Handbook Ind. Agri., 433-5 ; PALM^E. 



Habitat. So much might be written regarding this nut that it is difficult 



make a selection of the particulars likely to prove of greatest value 

 from the commercial and industrial standpoint. It is cultivated exclusively 

 within the moist tropical tracts that fringe the coast of India and practically 

 within a belt of land that does not extend inland for more than 200 miles. It 

 rarely ascends to altitudes of 3,000 feet and gradually disappears, even from the 

 littoral area, as localities are entered where the duration of the dry hot months 

 < n 1 1 ; or exceeds the monsoons. Usually it is seen as a garden plant, two or three 

 r a dozen palms at most being found around the huts of the more prosperous and 

 industrious. But occasionally, and in certain localities, especially of Southern 

 and Western India (Malabar) and of Burma, where the soil and climate may be 

 exceptionally favourable, it is grown in special gardens along with cocoa-nut, 

 ; plan tain, orange, mango, etc., and either with or without the pan piper betle 

 climbing on the palm-stems. Lastly in Eastern and Northern Bengal and some 

 portions of Assam its cultivation has assumed still greater dimensions. In 

 certain districts of these provinces regular plantations of 5 to 20 or even 100 

 ires in extent occur (exclusively of betel-nuts) and at such frequent intervals 



,t they might almost be said to constitute a distinct agricultural feature scarcely 

 ess important than the combined crops raised on the intervening portions of the 

 iuntry. 



History. This cultivated palm is met with throughout the hot damp regions 

 f Asia and the Malay Islands. It is a masticatory of great antiquity with all 

 Asiatic races, best known as Betel-nut, auvaka, puga, kramuka (Sansk.), fufal 

 (Arab.), a corruption of pupal (Pers.), a word cognate with kubara (Sansk.). By 

 these and other names was originally meant Piper Betle leaf the Pan though 

 subsequently these and many other names were appropriated to the nut or to tho 

 ipecial preparation of leaf, nut, lime and spices ready to be chewn. This was 

 first designated bira (vira) viti in Sanskrit but ultimately became pan, the 

 partm or pan-sapari of modern writers. The nut is symbolical of festivity ; it is 

 accordingly a fit offering for the gods, and is an essential at the betrothal 

 ceremony 



From the most ancient times the presentation of pdn has been the polite ter- 

 mination of ceremonial visits, hence the expression bira-dena the dismissal. 

 The name Betel or Betle is Malayan in origin and simply means " a leaf," and 

 came to English through the Portuguese Betre. The best-known vernacular 

 names for the nut are supdri, hopdri, gua, gaya, kasaile, mart, tambul, poka- 

 vaka, oka, kamugu, adike, kunsi, etc. 



It would seem that the earliest historic reference by a European to the habit 

 of chewing betel-nut occurs in the writings of Marco Polo (1298 A.D.). " All the 



83 



D.E.P., 

 i., 291-301. 



Betel-nut 

 Palm. 



Habitat. 



Garden Plant. 



Cultivation in 

 Bengal. 



Field 

 Cultivation. 



Ancient Xames. 



First mentioned 

 by a European. 



