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betel

File:Piper_betle_plant.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ159532· pop 78· linked from 546 articles

Also known as Piper betle

Betel (Piper betle) is a species of flowering plant in the pepper family Piperaceae, native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious vine, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel plants are cultivated for their leaves, which are most commonly used as flavoring for chewing areca nut in so-called betel quid (often confusingly referred to as "betel nut"), which is toxic (as it is a psychostimulant drug) and is associated with a wide range of serious health conditions.

AI overview

Betel is a Southeast Asian vine whose leaves are chewed together with areca nut in a preparation called betel quid, a practice with deep cultural roots in the region. This chewing habit is considered toxic because areca nut is a psychostimulant drug linked to serious health problems.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

In the Vinony graph

Vinony's link graph records 546 inbound references to betel, and connects out to calcium hydroxide, National Center for Biotechnology Information and Austronesian peoples.

It is catalogued under topics including Austronesian agriculture, Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus and Commons link from Wikidata.

Vinony links it to 76 Wikipedia language editions.

Species

Areca Palm

species

FamilyArecaceae
Native toPhilippines
Observations2,864

Climbers dioecious. Stems rooted at nodes, 2.5-5 mm thick, slightly woody. Petiole 2-5 cm, very finely powdery pubescent; prophylls ca. 1/3 as long as petioles; leaf blade ovate to ovate-oblong, those at apex of stem sometimes elliptic, 7-15 × 5-11 cm, papery to ± leathery, abaxially densely glandular with very finely powdery pubescent veins, adaxially glabrous, base cordate, sometimes rounded in leaf blades toward apex of stem, symmetric or nearly so, apex acuminate; veins 7, apical pair arising 0.7-2 cm above base, usually opposite, others basal; reticulate veins conspicuous. Spikes leaf-opposed. Male spikes nearly as long as leaf blades at anthesis; peduncle nearly as long as petioles; rachis pubescent; bracts orbicular or suborbicular, rarely obovate, 1-1.3 mm wide, peltate, ± sessile. Stamens 2; filaments thick, ca. as long as anthers or longer; anthers reniform. Female spikes 3-5 × ca. 1 cm, longer in fruit; rachis fleshy, densely pubescent. Ovary partly immersed in and connate to rachis, apex tomentose; stigmas usually 4 or 5, lanceolate, tomentose. Drupes fused to form terete, fleshy, reddish, compound fruit, apices tomentose, prominent. Fl. May-Jul.

via · Kew POWO

Research

3,081 papers

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Image
Betel leaves for selling in the market 01.jpg
Show 8 more facts
taxon name
Piper betle
Commons category
Piper betle
Commons gallery
Piper betle
taxon common name
蒟酱
short name
P. betle
taxon author citation
L.
Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

~12 min read

Encyclopedic overview

13 sections
Contents
  • Etymology
  • Distribution
  • Cultivation
  • Cultural significance
  • Health effects
  • Chemical composition
  • Genome
  • Economics
  • Gallery
  • See also
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

Betel (Piper betle) is a species of flowering plant in the pepper family Piperaceae, native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious vine, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel plants are cultivated for their leaves, which are most commonly used as flavoring for chewing areca nut in so-called betel quid (often confusingly referred to as "betel nut"), which is toxic (as it is a psychostimulant drug) and is associated with a wide range of serious health conditions.

==Etymology== The term betel was derived from the Malayalam/Tamil word vettila via Portuguese.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “betel” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (27)

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