Description Odour, slight, characteristic; taste, astringent.
Macroscopical Oblate or rounded-conical,1.5 to 3.5 cm long, base 1.5 to 3 cm wide.
Externally pale yellowish brown or pale reddish brown, with slightly concaved reticulate
Furrows, having a round, hollow micropyle in the centre of the base, beside which bearing an
Obvious scar-shaped hilum. Texture hard, uneasily broken; fractured surface showing
marble-like striations alternated with brown seed coats and white endosperm (F g. 1a).
Microscopical Transverse section of the seed shows testa, several loosely packed layers of
reddis-F-brown cells with moderately thickened walls with a few scattered, small rounded or
slit-shaped pits. Testa rumination, several layers of large, pitted thin-walled cells, some of
them filled with brown pigment and fixed oil globules, embedded with groups of vessels.
Endosperm, large polygonal cells with beaded and porous cellulose walls, perforated by
rounded to oval, conspicuous pits containing fixed oil globules and aleurone grains, some
with rather smooth walls. Embryo, occupying the central region of the seed near the base
(Fig.2a).
Areca Seed in powder possesses the diagnostic microscopical characters of the
unground drug (Fig.2b).
Storage Areca Seed should be stored in a ventilated dry place, protected from-moth.
Identification
A. Macerate 1 g of the sample, in powder, with 20 ml of water for 15 minutes and
filter. Dip a wooden stick in the filtrate for a few seconds and dry at room temperature.
Dip again in hydrochloric acid, remove immediately and dry: the wooden stick stains
red
B. To 100 mg of the sample, in powder, add,25 ml of water ,heat in a water-bath for
5 minutes and filter. To the filtrate add 2.5 ml of hydrochloric acid and 5 ml of formaldehyde
solution and warm: a pale brown precipitate is produced. CooI and filter. To 5 ml of the
filtrate, add2.5 g of sodiumacetateand0.5 ml of iron () chloride TS, and shake well: a reddish
brown colour is produced which does not change to blue.
C. Macerate 1 g of the sample, in powder, with 10 ml of water for 10 minutes and filter.
To 2 ml of the filtrate, add a few drops of a 5 per cent w/v solution of iron() chloride, and
then make slightly alkaline with a 4 per cent w/v solution of sodium hydroxide: the colour is
changed from dark green to purple.