Because betel nut is addictive and has a high carcinogenic rate, long-term consumption will lead to bad mouth and face, and it will also lead to a series of problems, which can be called drugs, so it is illegal to sell betel nut.

I. Introduction of Areca catechu

Areca catechu is an evergreen tree of monocotyledonous plants, primary orders, Palmae and Areca. Its stem is erect, tree-shaped, with a height of more than 10 meters and a maximum of 30 meters. It has obvious annular leaf scars, is monoecious, and its inflorescence is multi-branched. Its ovary is oblong, its fruit is oblong or ovoid, its seeds are ovoid, and its flowering and fruiting period is from March to April. Areca catechu is native to Malaysia, and China is mainly distributed in tropical areas such as Yunnan, Hainan and Taiwan Province. Widely cultivated in tropical Asia. Areca catechu is an important Chinese herbal medicine, and some ethnic minorities in the south still use the fruit as a chewing hobby. Areca catechu is a carcinogen in the List of Carcinogens of the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization 1, which has been recognized as a drug in Turkey, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Canada and Australia, and has been banned from sale in many European and American countries.

Second, the morphological characteristics

Monoecious, the inflorescence is multi-branched, the inflorescence axis is stout and flattened, the branches are tortuous, the length is 25-30 cm, the upper part is slender, and the male flowers are 1 row or 2 rows, while the female flowers are solitary at the base of the branches; Male flowers are small, sessile, usually solitary, rarely paired, sepals oval, less than 1 mm, petals oblong, 4-6 mm long, stamens 6, filaments short, degenerated pistils 3, linear; The female flower is larger, the sepals are oval, the petals are nearly round, the length is 1.2- 1.5 cm, and there are 6 staminodes, which are united. Ovary oblong, fruit oblong or ovoid, 3-5 cm long, orange-yellow, mesocarp thick and fibrous. The seeds are ovoid, the base is truncated, the endosperm is chewy, the embryo is basal, and the flowering and fruiting period is March-April.

There are 36 varieties of areca catechu known in the world, and people in different regions have different classification methods for these cultivated species. For example, farmers in Hainan divide areca catechu into long-stemmed species and short-stemmed species according to inflorescence and fruiting conditions, and the yield, alkaloid types and contents, medicinal value and bio-ecological characteristics of different varieties of areca catechu are quite different.