in botany, a genus of the order of palmæ pennatfoliæ. The male has no calyx, but three petals, and nine stamens; the female has no calyx; the corolla has three petals, and the calyx is imbricated. There is only one species, viz. the catechu, a native of India. This has no branches, but its leaves are very beautiful: they form a round tuft at the top of the trunk, which is as straight as an arrow. It grows to the height of 25 or 35 feet, and is a great ornament in gardens. The shell, which contains the fruit, is smooth without, but rough and hairy within, in which it pretty much resembles the shell of the cocoa-nut. Its size is equal to that of a pretty large walnut. Its kernel is as big as a nutmeg, to which it bears a great resemblance without, and has also the same whitish veins within when cut in two. In the centre of the fruit, when it is soft, is contained a greyish and almost liquid substance, which grows hard in proportion as it ripens. The fruit when ripe is astringent, but not unpalatable, and the shell is yellowish. Of this fruit there is a prodigious consumption in the East Indies, there being scarce any person, from the richest to the poorest, who does not make use of it; and the trade they drive in it is incredible. The chief use that is made of areca is to chew it with the leaves of betel, mixing with it lime made of sea-shells*. In order to chew it, they cut the areca into four quarters, and take one quarter of it, which they wrap up in a leaf of betel, over which they lay a little of the lime; afterwards they tie it, by twisting it round. This bit prepared for mastication, is called pinang; which is a Malayan word, used all over the East Indies. The pinang provokes spitting very much, whether it be made with dried or fresh areca; the spittle is red, which colour the areca gives it. This mastication cools the mouth, and fattens the teeth and gums. When they have done chewing the pinang, they spit out the gross substance that remains in the mouth. They are under a mistake who imagine that fresh areca melts entirely in the mouth. Nor is it a less mistake to think that the teeth which are tinged red during the time of chewing, always retain that colour. As soon as they have done chewing the pinang, they wash their mouth with with fresh water, and then their teeth are white again. The Europeans who live at Batavia, or Malaca, and in the Sunda and Molucca islands, use pinang as much as the Indians do; and by washing their teeth they preserve them white. Some pretend that areca strengthens the stomach, when the juice of it is swallowed, as most of the Indians do. Another property ascribed to it is, its curing or carrying off all that might be unwholesome or corrupt in the gums. When eaten by itself, as is sometimes done by the Indians, it impoverishes the blood, and causes the jaundice; but is not attended with these inconveniences when mixed in the usual way with betel.

The Samefes call it ploa in their language. The best areca of the Indies comes from the island of Ceylon. The Dutch East-India company send a great deal of it in their ships into the kingdom of Bengal. There grows in Malabar a sort of red areca, which is very proper for dying in that colour. The same company send some of it from time to time to Surat and Amadabad, for the use of the dyers in the dominions of the Grand Mogul.