areca nut palm, betel nut palm, pinang

Areca catechu

Description:

A clump of "pohon pinang" (Indonesian) or betel nut trees. Areca catechu is the areca palm or areca nut palm, a species of palm which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. The palm is believed to have originated in either Malaysia or the Philippines. This palm is often called the betel tree because its fruit, the areca nut, is often chewed along with the betel leaf, a leaf from a vine of the Piperaceae family. The areca nut is popular for chewing throughout some Asian countries, such as Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and India and the Pacific, notably Papua New Guinea as well as Papua, Indonesia, where it is very popular.

Habitat:

Growing in a semi-urban environment of residences, yards, gardens and patches of remnant forest.

Notes:

As seen in bright daylight previously http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/714... Featured elsewhere http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/0...

Species ID Suggestions

21 Comments

Scott Frazier 10 years ago

Thanks very much, Martin!

MartinL 10 years ago

That is spectacular Scott. It's a cloud with a silver lining.

Scott Frazier 10 years ago

Thank you, Gilma!

Gilma Jeannette Ospino Ferreira-Norman 10 years ago

Lovely. Beautiful picture.

Scott Frazier 10 years ago

Thanks very much, staccyh!

staccyh 10 years ago

Beautiful photos. Congrats on it being selected for the calendar! :)

Scott Frazier 10 years ago

The first image from this Project Noah spotting has been selected and used in the The Cloud Appreciation Society’s Cloud Calendar for 2014. While not specifically for the wildlife, Areca catechu does feature prominently in the caption as well as the photo. :-) http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/shop...