CATECHU

also called Cutch, or Cashoo, extract used in dyeing and tanning. It is obtained from several plants, its chief sources being the wood of two species of Acacia, A. catechu and A. suma, both natives of India. This extract is known as black catechu. A similar extract, known in pharmacy as pale catechu and in commerce as gambier, or terra japonica, is produced from the leaves of Uncaria gambir and U. acida, plants of the Indonesian archipelago. These extracts have a sweetish taste and are used in medicine as astringents. They consist chiefly of mixtures of catechutannic acid and catechin or catechuic acid. The name catechu also is applied to an extract obtained from areca nuts, or betel nuts, the seeds of the fruit of Areca catechu, a palm of Southeast Asia. It consists of the alkaloid arecoline, which is used as a worming agent in animals.