Species
+

Areca catechu L.

Betel Nut Palm, Indian nut, Betelnut palm, Betelnut, Betel palm, Areca nut, Areca Nut Palm, Areca Palm, Indian-nut, Mvovo

Climate known 39 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Areca catechu is a species of palm native to the Philippines cultivated for areca nuts. It was carried widely through the tropics by the Austronesian migrations and trade since at least 1500 BCE due to its use in betel nut chewing. It is widespread in cultivation and is considered naturalized in much of tropical Asia and in Taiwan, southern China, Madagascar, parts of the Pacific Islands, and also in the West Indies.

Text from Wikipedia, “Areca catechu”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Areca

Areca is a genus of palms in the family Arecaceae, found in humid tropical forests from the islands of the Philippines and Malaysia, India, and across Southeast Asia to Melanesia. The generic name Areca is derived from a name used locally on the Malabar Coast of India.

Text from Wikipedia, “Areca”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Philippines
Wild records
45 in range· 24 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
May, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2475mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 309 mm (CHELSA)
Light
26–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, June to December at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 2475 mm a year, wettest July at 309 mm, driest February at 83 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 20.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Areca catechu f. communis Becc.; Areca catechu var. alba Blume; Areca catechu var. batanensis Becc.; Areca catechu var. longicarpa Becc.; Areca catechu var. nigra Giseke and 12 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, June to December at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1891 mm of 2475 mm) falls in June to December. The temperature curve is flat, 2.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2475 mm a year, wettest July at 309 mm, driest February at 83 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2475 mm a year at the habitat, 1891 mm of it June to December. Wettest month July at 309 mm, driest February at 83 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 2054 mm to 3559 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 20.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 20.7 °C, the absolute minimum 18.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 22.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells 15.7 °C to 23.8 °C), warmest day 29.9 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 20.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a tropical foliage plant, 12 °C, is lower and does not raise it.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 66 to 70% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 26 °C in Jan to 30 °C in May; mean night from 22 °C in Jan to 25 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2475 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 40 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 18.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°31.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)18.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 26–40RH 66–70 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 40 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 21–2827 / 22–2928 / 24–3030 / 25–3130 / 26–3129 / 26–3129 / 26–3029 / 26–3028 / 25–3028 / 24–2928 / 23–2927 / 22–28
Night °C22 / 16–2422 / 16–2423 / 16–2524 / 18–2525 / 19–2624 / 19–2624 / 19–2624 / 19–2624 / 19–2524 / 18–2524 / 18–2523 / 17–24
Rain mm114 / 27–39183 / 21–27887 / 25–205116 / 41–165184 / 138–313250 / 179–372309 / 197–454276 / 186–487309 / 210–412300 / 246–465236 / 129–522211 / 69–500
DLI28 / 22–3132 / 27–3637 / 33–4040 / 37–4237 / 34–3935 / 30–3833 / 29–3734 / 28–3732 / 29–3730 / 27–3428 / 23–3126 / 19–29
RH %69 / 62–7567 / 63–7366 / 62–7166 / 63–7067 / 65–7168 / 66–7269 / 66–7368 / 66–7369 / 67–7369 / 66–7470 / 65–7469 / 63–76

Each figure is the median across the 40 grid cells holding the 43 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1700:5962 (4.975, 118.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 18.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 20.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 40 distinct grid cells holding the 43 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1700:5962 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 5.00_118.125, lapse-corrected +92 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 236 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativePhilippines· introduced: Guinea, Comoros, China South-Central, Hainan, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Fiji, Santa Cruz Is., Vanuatu, Society Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker14.589, 121.176 · in the densest population, 20 records (44% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 45 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 24 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 40 km away. 630 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 45 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Areca catechuAreca catechuAreca catechuAreca catechuAreca catechuAreca catechuAreca catechuAreca catechu

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) C L Dheeraj, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Nina Kerr, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Navaneeth Sini George, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Areca catechu, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Daniel E. Johnson, Barbara Burtness, C. René Leemans, Vivian Wai Yan Lui (2020) · Nature Reviews Disease Primers
A review on biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles and their biocidal properties
K. S. Siddiqi, Azamal Husen, Rifaqat Ali Khan Rao (2018) · Journal of Nanobiotechnology
Sex-specific, male-line transgenerational responses in humans
The ALSPAC Study Team, Marcus Pembrey, Lars Olov Bygren, Gunnar Kaati (2005) · European Journal of Human Genetics
Herb-drug interactions
Adriane Fugh‐Berman (2000) · The Lancet
Indian Herbs and Herbal Drugs Used for the Treatment of Diabetes
Manisha Modak, Priyanjali Dixit, Jayant Londhe, Saroj Ghaskadbi (2007) · Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition
Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using plant extracts and their antimicrobial activities: a review of recent literature
Chhangte Vanlalveni, Samuel Lallianrawna, Ayushi Biswas, Manickam Selvaraj (2021) · RSC Advances
Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Prevention of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Adam Barsouk, John Sukumar Aluru, Prashanth Rawla, Kalyan Saginala (2023) · Medical Sciences
Hypopigmenting agents: an updated review on biological, chemical and clinical aspects
Francisco Solano, Stefania Briganti, Mauro Picardo, Ghanem Ghanem (2006) · Pigment Cell Research
Indian Traditional Ayurvedic System of Medicine and Nutritional Supplementation
Madan Mohan Pandey, Subha Rastogi, A. K. S. Rawat (2013) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Extraction of Flavonoids From Natural Sources Using Modern Techniques
Jaísa Oliveira Chaves, Mariana C. Souza, Laíse Capelasso da Silva, Daniel Lachos‐Perez (2020) · Frontiers in Chemistry
The Success of Natural Products in Drug Discovery
Mouhssen Lahlou (2013) · Pharmacology &amp Pharmacy

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 66 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.