PALM^. 



279 



distinct, valvate in the bud of the male flower, imbricate in the female ; 

 stamens hypogynous, or perigynous, G in two whorls, opposite the 

 sepals and petals. Inflorescence axillary. Fruit a berry or drupe, 

 with smooth or scaly epicarp ; sarcocarp fleshy, oily or flbrous ; endo- 

 carp membranous, fibrous, woody, or bony. Seed oblong, ovoid, or 

 spherical. Leaves springing from the terminal bud, alternate, base 

 of petiole sheathing the stem, petiole convex below ; blade pinnate, 

 fan-shaped or simply split. Perennial woody plants, mostly beautiful 

 and majestic trees. Trunks often tall and slender. 



Xo. of genera, 132 ; species, 1100 ; tropical and subtropical. 



ARECA, L. (Betel Xut. Feather Palms.) Flowers monoecious, small, 

 numerous, sessile, bractless, spadix branched. Staminate flowers very 

 numerous ; calyx with 3 small ovate segments ; 

 petals 3, much longer than the calyx, broadly 

 ovate, smooth, thick, and yellow ; stamens 3-6 ; 

 filaments short, red, and attached to the backs 

 of the arrow-shaped anthers. Pistillate flowers 

 with a calyx of 3 ovate rigid sepals ; petals 3, 

 like the sepals, but thinner. Ovary large, 

 1-celled, one ovule in each cell ; stigmas 3. 

 Fruit two and a half inches long, containing 

 a single seed an inch long and two thirds of 

 an inch in diameter, somewhat in shape of a 

 nutmeg, distinctly marked by a network of red 

 veins, which penetrate the mass and give a 

 marbled appearance to the internal structure. 

 A tree produces about 300 nuts. Leaves pin- 

 nately divided. 



A. catechu, L. (Betel Nut.) Stem slender, 40 to 

 60 feet high, 18 to 20 inches in diameter. Fronds 

 3 to 4 feet long, all terminal. Leaflets numerous 

 and opposite. 



Georji-dphij. — The geography of the areca is trop- 

 ical and subtropical. It has spread tlirough the 

 Sunda Isles, the Philippines, Cochin China, Sumatra, 

 and southern India, and has names in each of these 

 countries which point to tlie probability that it is 

 native to all these localities; but there seems to be insufficient evidence to 

 locate its home in any one of them. It grows best on plains and terraces. 



Eti/mologi/. — Areca is from «rfc, the name applied to the young tree in 

 Malabar. Cutecliu was applied to this species becau.se it was erroneously sup- 

 posed to yield the gum catechu. The fruit is called betel nut, because the leaf 

 of the piper betel is used in connection with it. Feather Palm alludes to the 

 feathery appearance of the leaves, and is apphed to several of the genera of 

 this order. 



Histori/. — When the betel nut was first used as a masticatory is not known ; 

 it was in use in the East Indies when the country became known to Euro- 

 peans, and its use upon state occasions dates l»ack to the iV.urtli centurv. 



Areca catkchtt 

 (Betel-nut). 



