Pharmaceutical Name:

Semen Arecae

Botanical Name:

Areca cathechu L.

Common Name:

Areca seed
Betel nut

Source of Earliest Record:

Mingyi Bielu

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The seeds from the ripe fruit are collected in winter or spring.  They are dried in the sun, soaked in water and cut into slices.

Properties and Taste:

Pungent, bitter and warm

Meridians:

Stomach and large intestine

Functions:

To kill parasites
To promote Qi circulation
To promote water metabolism

Indications and Combinations:

1.     Parasites in the intestines (especially tapeworm).
*Use with Pumpkin seed (Nan gua zi).

2.      Retention of food with abdominal distension and constipation or tenesmus in dysentery.
*Use with Costus root (Mu xiang), Bitter orange (Zhi qiao) and Rhubarb (Da huang) in the formula Muxiang Binglang Wan.

3.      Edema.
*Use with Poria peel (Fu ling pi) and Alismatis rhizome (Ze xie).

4.    Swollen and painful legs.
*Use with Chaenomeles fruit (Mu gua), Evodia fruit (Wu zhu yu) and Perilla leaf (Zi su ye).

5.     Side effect of vomiting caused by intake of the herb Dichroa root (Changshan).
*Use with Dichroa root (Chang shan) can lessen the latter’s side effect.

Dosage:

10-15 g

Cautions:

This herb is contraindicated in a person with weakness of the spleen accompanied by diarrhea.