The specific arecoline content, the specific nut size, and the specific growth habits of Sulawesi areca palms may differ somewhat from those found elsewhere.

This matters for understanding the ancient betel nut use: the foragers were using plants that were native to their specific landscape, plants whose properties they had learned through intimate and long-standing familiarity with the island’s ecology.

The areca palms were not imports; they were part of the forest that had been the context for human life on Sulawesi for tens of thousands of years.

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