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Arecanut: India’s popular masticatory —history, chemistry and utilization

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Abstract

To the Indians, Malayans, or the Indonesians, betel-nut chewing is as familiar as chewing gum to the Americans. In India the use of arecanut and its cultivation constitute a distinct agricultural practice scarcely less important than that of other economic crops, but little attention has been given to a proper assessment of the fruit either in India or elsewhere.

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Author notes

  1. V. Raghavan

    Present address: Department of Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

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  1. Department of Botany, Gauhati University, Assam, India

    V. Raghavan & H. K. Baruah

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The authors thank the Indian Central Arecanut Committee, Kozhikode, and the Gauhati University for financing a scheme of research on arecanuts, during the tenure of which the details reported here were collected. The cooperation of Mr. B. S. Varadarajan, Secretary, Indian Central Arecanut Committee, who furnished the majority of the photographs for the illustrations, is greatly appreciated.

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Raghavan, V., Baruah, H.K. Arecanut: India’s popular masticatory —history, chemistry and utilization . Econ Bot 12, 315–345 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02860022

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