Areca Catechu, Betel Palm - 0.5 kg Seeds

Betel-nut or areca palm (Areca catechu), known as supari, is a tall, slender, single-stemmed feather palm reaching 12-20 m, with a smooth ringed grey trunk crowned by a tuft of arching pinnate fronds. It produces fragrant cream flower spikes followed by clusters of orange-red ovoid fruits, each containing the familiar hard areca nut. It is cultivated extensively in the humid coastal and high-rainfall belts of India, especially Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and the coastal Andhra and Konkan tracts.

It is one of India's most important commercial plantation palms, grown for the areca nut, which is chewed with betel leaf (paan) and used in traditional preparations and rituals. The trunks are used in light construction and the fronds for thatch and plates, and the palm's tall, graceful form also makes it an ornamental and shade element in homestead gardens.

• Family: Arecaceae
• Native region: Tropical Asia / Malaysia region
• Mature height: 12-20 m
• Growth rate: Moderate

Sowing the seed: sow the whole ripe fruit fresh, as the seed is recalcitrant and loses viability if dried. Soak the fruits in water for 2-3 days, then sow them on their side, partly buried with the stalk end up, in moist, well-drained nursery beds or polybags kept warm and shaded. Germination is slow, usually taking 30 or more days (often several months); transplant the seedlings when they have a few leaves and are well rooted.