Although Areca catechu is not a native species in our country, its planting history in China can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. At present, there are many people who grow Areca catechu in eat areca. Therefore, on the whole, Areca catechu plays an important role in at least three aspects, namely, food, medicine and economy.

first, the edible value. In modern society, betel nut has been found in many different ways, the most common one is as a snack. In Taiwan Province, Hainan and Guangxi, many people prefer to chew betel nuts. Even in the "enclave" of Hunan, there are not a few betel nut lovers. As a snack, betel nut has a refreshing effect. Of course, betel nut can also be used as a kind of food. As the saying goes, "When you eat betel nut, all vegetables are fresh". When you eat betel nut, you can not only improve the taste and freshness, but also clear the stomach and relieve boredom. The betel nut sparerib pot, Atractylodes macrocephala, Betel nut duck in Tanzhou, and Betel nut stewed pork bone soup are all delicious and nutritious dishes. You can cook "champagne porridge" with radix aucklandiae and Betel nut, which has the functions of smoothing qi, promoting stagnation and relaxing bowels.

Secondly, betel nut has certain medicinal value. Xu Betel nut is actually a Chinese medicine and one of the "four southern medicines". Traditional Chinese medicine in our country believes that betel nut has the functions of killing insects, breaking accumulation, promoting hydration and removing dampness, reducing qi and stagnation, eliminating dampness and promoting qi, etc. There are records of betel nut used as medicine in medical books, such as Compendium of Materia Medica and Records of Famous Doctors. There are countless prescriptions for betel nut medicine handed down from ancient times, such as Simo Decoction for stagnation of liver-qi, Shaoyao Decoction for damp-heat dysentery, Shuchishu Decoction for edema, Jiming Powder for beriberi, Qibao Decoction for intercepting malaria and so on. According to the information provided by the drug supervision department, up to now, there are more than 2 common drugs containing betel nut, such as Jianwei Xiaoshi tablets, Qingyan Lishang pills, Muxiang Betel nut pills and so on.

In addition, betel nut has a very good economic value. In China, the most widely planted betel nut is Hainan Province, which accounts for 95% of the country's betel nut production. About 5, farmers and nearly 2.3 million farmers grow betel nuts for a living. There is a saying that "the world sees betel nuts in Hainan, and Hainan betel nuts are semi-wanning". The data shows that in 218, the total income of betel nut planting in Wanning was 2.168 billion yuan, and the per capita income was about 4,281 yuan, accounting for nearly one-third of the per capita income of farmers. Areca catechu has become the pillar industry of agricultural economic development in Wanning.