RRJoP (2018) 6-20 © STM Journals 2018. All Rights Reserved Page 6 Research & Reviews: A Journal of Pharmacology ISSN: 2230-9861 (Online), ISSN: 2349-1299 (Print) Volume 8, Issue 1 www.stmjournals.com Ethnomedicinal, Pharmacological and Phytochemical Screening of Supari (Areca catechu Linn.): A Review Seema Rani 1, *, Khaleequr Rahman 2 , Mohammad Idris 3 1 Department of Ilmul Saidla, Iqra Unani Medical College, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India 2 Department of Ilmul Saidla, National Institute of Unani Medicine, Bangalore, Karnataka, India 3 Department of Ilmul Saidla, Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College, Karol Bagh, New Delhi, India Abstract Supari (Areca catechu Linn.) is a tall tree about 10–20 m long. It is used both locally and internally. Local application is beneficial in various acute inflammatory conditions in the form of gargle, vaginal douche or abzan, decoction, juice and oil. Internally it act as muqavvi- e-qalb (cardiotonic) and muqavvi-e-ama (intestinal tonic), sozish meda (gastric irritation), dries the excessive secretions of mouth, used in vomiting and nausea, strengthen the teeth and gums, excrete the bilious matter; bark powder expels intestinal worms, jiryan (nocturnal emission). It is also used in the treatment of ishaal (diarrhoea), sailan-ur-rehm (leucorrhoea), khurooje rahem wa miqad (prolapse of uterus and anus) in oral powder dosage form. Ethnobotanical actions have also been discussed which narrates the action of this magic medicine in different dosage forms. It possess various pharmacological activities such as antiplatelet activity, memory enhancing activity, antinociceptive activity, anti-allergic activity, hepatoprotective activity, anti-inflammatory activity and antimelanogenesis activity, antifertility activity, anti-ovulatory activity, antidiabetic activity, wound healing activity, anti- oxidative activity, free radical scavenging activity, antihyaluronidase activity, anti-aging activity, antiulcerogenic activity, ulcerogenic activity, antimicrobial study, radioactivity reducing activity in blood, cytotoxicity activity, carcinogenic and toxicity study which has been scientifically evaluated by various studies have been discussed in this paper. Phytochemical studies done so far are also been discussed but isolation of various new structures can make the drug worldwide accepted. This article is an overview of plant morphology, phytochemical studies done on different parts of Supari, biochemical compounds as functionally active molecules, action and uses of Supari claimed by Unani medicine, therapeutic effects studied all over the world, and pharmacological studies scientifically proven yet. Further studies should be done to know the underlying mechanisms and type of biochemical compounds involved in these beneficial effect. Keywords: Supari (Areca catechu), Unani, phytochemical, ethnomedicinal, pharmacological *Author for Correspondence E-mail: seema.malik786@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Areca catechu Linn. comes under the list introduced by Arabs in their Materia Medica which is compiled from Ibn-i-Baitar’s Jame- ul-mufradat [1]. Areca commonly known as betel nut palm or areca palm is slender, single trunked, tall palm grows up to 30 m height. The name areca, means "cavalier", may be derived from the Kanarese word adeke or the Malayalam adakka. The first description of this tree dates back to that of Herodotus (ca. 340 B.C.E.). Later, both the palm and the chewing of the betel were more or less precisely discussed by many Arabic and European travellers e.g., Abdullah Ibn Ahmad, Marco Polo, Vasco De Gamma, Garcia De Orta etc in their travel reports. Betel nut is mentioned in Chinese works written before the Christian era under the name Pin lang, by some supposed to be a corruption of the Malay name pinang [2]. A mature tree in full bearing can have inflorescences containing up to 644 female and 15–48,000 male flowers. The male flowers open first. Their sweet scent attracts honeybees and other insects, but these insects do not frequent the female flowers and thus their role as pollinators is doubtful. Several days after the last male flower is shed, the female flowers open. They are fertilized by pollen that is wind transported from