Areca. | PALMA, 537 
trunk of the full-grown palm annulate, grey or almost white ; 
leaves pinnate, with the end-pinne flabellately connate and 2-cleft, 
4-5 ft. long or longer, on a short broadly sheathing petiole; pinne 
1-13 ft. long or longer, numerous and crowded, linear to linear- 
lanceolate, somewhat falcate, many-nerved, the lower ones finel 
acuminate, the upper confluent ones shortly and rather bluntish 2- 
lobed ; spathe simple, glabrous, compressed, parallel-veined ; spikes 
panicled, the rachis strong, smooth, compressed, the ramifications 
twice divided, terminating in slender long grooved male spikes, the 
female flowers solitary, rather large, sessile at the base of the 
branchings or in their axils, without bracts ; sepals ovate, concave, 
bluntish, almost keeled on the back, about 4 in. long; petals con- 
form, but not keeled and more acute ; ovary surrounded by 6 con- 
nate staminodes ; male flowers only a line long or somewhat longer, 
more or less distichous, with 6 stamens round an ovary-rudiment ; 
drupes supported by the persistent perianth, ellipsoid, 13-2 m. 
long, smooth, fleshy-fibrous, orange-coloured or scarlet, usually the 
size of a hen’s egg. 
Has.—Frequently cultivated by Burmans and Karens, especially in Marta- 
ban and Tenasserim.—s. 
Remarxs.—Yields the well-known betel-nuts chewed by natives. The 
trunks are good for spear-handles and bows. 
2. A. triandra, Roxb.—Zau-hwam-thi.—Ax. evergreen stolon- 
iferous or simple-stemmed palm (15—25+8—20+41—1}), all 
parts glabrous, the trunk annulate, glossy green; leaves 4 to 6 
. long, pinnate with the end-pinnae flabellately confluent and 2- 
cleft, the rachis smooth, the petiole slender, up to a foot long, sheath- 
ing at the base ; pinnae linear-lanceolate, somewhat falcate, irre- 
gularly approximate or connate by 3 or 2 or solitary, with a strong 
midrib and numerous parallel nerves, 13-3 ft. long, the lower and 
median ones long-falcately-acuminate, the upper confluent ones 
Shortly and rather bluntish 2-lobed; spathe simple, coriaceous, 
compressed, smooth, up to a foot long or longer ; spikes panicled, 
thrice ramified, the rachis thick and compressed, smooth, the male 
end-spikes thin and almost filiform, the female flowers lateral and 
illary, sessile, without bracts ; sepals in females oval, blunt, 
side of a female flower and distichous and numerous along the end- 
spikes, with only 3 stamens round a rudimentary ovary ; drupes 
oblong, the size of an olive, narrowed at the truncate apex, fleshy- 
