Areca catechu L.), hammer jade, binmen, qingzai, guoma, betel nan, sharp betel nut, chicken heart betel nut, Renpin, Binmen medicinal dumpling, white betel nut, olive, betel nut kernel, washing dan, big belly, big belly betel nut, betel nut, betel nut, Ma Jinnan, betel nut. It is an evergreen tree of monocotyledonous plants, primary order, palm family, betel nut genus, the stem is erect, tree-like, more than 10 meters high, up to 30 meters high, with obvious circular leaf marks, hermaphroditic plants, inflorescences are multi-branched, ovary oblong, fruit oblong or ovoid, seed ovate, flowering and fruit period 3-4 months. The stem is erect, tree-like, more than 10 meters high and up to 30 meters high, with obvious ring-like leaf marks. The leaves are born at the top of the stem, 1.3–2 m long, with most pinnae, glabrous on both sides, narrow and lanceolate, 30–60 cm long and 2.5–4 cm wide, with an upper plume synphyle with irregular tooth cleft at the apex.
Betel nut, hermaphroditic, inflorescence multi-branched, inflorescence shaft thickly flattened, branched tortuous, 25-30 cm long, slender upper part, giving birth to 1 column or 2 columns of male flowers, while female flowers are singular at the base of branches; male flowers are small, stemless, usually solitary, rarely opposite, sepals ovate, less than 1 mm long, petals oblong, 4-6 mm long, 6 stamens, short filaments, 3 vestiges, linear; female flowers are larger, sepals ovate, petals are nearly round, 1.2–1.5 cm long, 6 vestigial stamens, synphytic; ovary oblong. The fruit is oblong or ovoid, 3–5 cm long, orange-yellow, medium-skinned and fibrous. The seeds are ovate, the base is truncated, the endosperm is chewed, and the embryonic base is born. The flowering period is from March to April. Winter and spring fruits are harvested when ripe. Pick the fruit, peel off the peel, take its seeds and dry them in the sun.
Betel nut is native to Malaysia, and China is mainly distributed in tropical areas such as Yunnan, Hainan and Taiwan. It is widely cultivated in tropical Asia. Betel nut is mainly distributed in Southeast Asia, tropical Asia, East Africa and parts of Europe, the Pacific region is mainly distributed in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Micronesia, sporadically distributed in Pinape Island, American Mariana Islands and Marshall Islands, Hawaiian Islands betel nut cultivation is only used for ornamental purposes.
Areca catechu is cultivated in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. The trunk is unbranched and is 12 to 15 meters tall. Betel nut is the seed of the palmae betel nut tree. The betel nut leaf is the leaf of piperaceae konjac (Piper betle). The betel nut is slightly smaller than an egg, the skin is fibrous, and contains a seed, the betel nut. The endosperm is hard with grayish-brown spots. Harvested in August and November before the fruit is fully ripe, peeled, boiled, cut into thin slices and dried, it is dark brown or black. Betel nut is the raw material for inferior catechus, the main alkaloid of which is betel nut, which is used by veterinarians as an insect repellent. Betel nut contains a variety of nutrients and beneficial substances needed by the human body, the main components of the original betel nut fruit are 31.1% phenols, 18.7% polysaccharides, 14.0% fat, 10.8% crude fiber, 9.9% moisture, 3.0% ash and 0.5% alkaloids. Betel nut also contains more than 20 kinds of trace elements, of which 11 are essential trace elements.
Betel nut seeds contain 0.3%-0.6% of total alkaloids, mainly betel nut, and contain a small amount of betel nut base, desmethyl betel nut base, isodemethyl betel nut base, betel nut vice base and high betel nut base, etc., all of which exist with tannic acid. There are also tannins, fats, mannitol, galactose, sucrose, catechin, epitemicother, colorless anthocyanins, betel nut red pigments, saponins and a variety of protocamerin dimers, trimers, tetramers and so on.
The composition of fatty acids is: lauric acid 19.5%, myristic acid 46.2%, palmitic acid 12.7% stearic acid 1.6%, oleic acid 6.2%, linoleic acid 5.4%, dodecanocarbonate 0.3%, tetracarboenic acid 7.2%, and contains amino acids. Among them, proline accounts for more than 15%.