ARE'CA, a genus of Palms containing two species, both remarkable for the purposes to which they are applied. A reca is distinguished by a double membranous sheath in which its bunches of flowers are contained, by its female coronae containing the rudiments of stamens, its calyx being divided into three parts or leavas, and its fruit being a berry or drupe, with a fibrous rind inclosing one seed only. The leaves of all the specks are !titillated, with their stalks rolled up cylindrically at the base.
A reea Catechu, Betel-Nut Palm, is described by Dr. Roxburgh an being the most beautiful palm in India, with a remarkably straight trunk, often from 40 to 50 feet high, and in general about 20 inches in circumference, equally thick in every part, and smooth. The leaflets are from 3 to 3i feet long, and widest at the point, where they also are ragged. It is cultivated all over India for the sake of its nuts, which are about the size of a lieu's egg, of a reddish-yellow when ripe, and with a firm fibrous rind about half an inch thick. It is this nut which, tinder the name of Pinang or Betel-Nut, is so universally chewed in the East Indies. It has an austere and astringent flavour, dependent upon the tannin it contains, and is not eatable alone ; but mixed with lime, which no doubt destroys its acidity, and with the leaf of the Betel-Pepper it becomes milder and pleasant.. The mixture is however still so hot and acrid as to be unfit for the use of any but persons accustomed to it. It is said to be aromatic and stomachic, and also to produce intoxication in beginners ; but it is doubtful whether all these qualities are not to be ascribed rather to the Betel-Pepper leaf than to the nut of the l'alm. It, or rather the
mixture of the three substances, stains the saliva and teeth of a deep red colour. It is to the stems of A reca Coteau that the common black pepper vine is usually trained on the coast of Malabar. (Roxb.) Areea oleracea, the Cabbage Palm, is the only other species that it is necessary for us to notice. The name of this plant is familiar to most persona from the often repeated fact that a tree of the growth of half a century is sometimes cut down for the sake of the single bud which terminates it, and which is called the cabbage.
The species is found in great abundance iti the mountainous parts of Jamaica and other West India islands, growing to the height of from 100 to 200 feet, with a trunk not more than 6 or 7 inches in diameter. This gives it an extremely graceful appearance, especially as the leaves grow from the top only, in a kind of tuft or plume, to the length of 15 feet; these leaves are divided in a pinnated manner, and their divisions are deep green, and several feet long. The unexpanded leaves are arranged so closely one over the other as to obstruct all access of light, which causes them to be of a very tender and delicate nature. It is this which forms the cabbage, which is considered a great delicacy, either raw or boiled. The nuts, which are about the size of a filbert and covered with a yellowish skin, are produced in great abundance upon a very long and branched spadix ; the kernel is white and sweet.