Abstract: Traditional Chinese medicine Arecae Semen is dried seed of Areca catechu L. Its clinical application records were first discovered in literatures of the Northern and Southern dynasty. The origins, efficacy, toxicity, processing and taboos of Arecae Semen have been discussed in many ancient herb literatures. The Arecae Semen was identified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer(IRAC) , and the safety of Arecae Semen has increasingly attracted attention of the society. In this paper, the authors summarized and analyzed the toxicity and medication risk factors of Arecae Semen recorded in ancient herb literatures, and proposed that more attention shall be paid to the effect of the origins and the compatibility on the components and toxicity of Arecae Semen in safety studies, which provides clues for the further studies.

Key words: Arecae Semen, safety, literature study