File:Piper_betle_plant.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
betel
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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.
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
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- Betel cytotoxicity.ReviewJournal of ethnopharmacology · 1989Sen S, Talukder G, Sharma ADOI: 10.1016/0378-8741(89)90096-2
- Investigating Betel Nut Use, Antecedents and Consequences: A Review of Literature.ReviewSubstance use & misuse · 2020Joo YJ, Newcombe D, Nosa V et al.DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2019.1666144
- Betel: consumption and consequences.ReviewJournal of the American Academy of Dermatology · 1998Norton SADOI: 10.1016/s0190-9622(98)70543-2
- From betel nuts to Cobenfy: how an ancient recreational drug gave rise to a new class of schizophrenia medications.ReviewCNS spectrums · 2025Creeden JF, Machiraju SN, Amin JB et al.DOI: 10.1017/S1092852925100424
- Betel Quid Use and Tuberculosis Transmission: A Neglected Focus Area for Tuberculosis Control in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.ReviewOpen forum infectious diseases · 2024Manghani P, Prasad N, Khatri N et al.DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofae577
- Betel chewer's mucosa--a review.ReviewJournal of oral pathology & medicine : official publication of the International Association of Oral Pathologists and the American Academy of Oral Pathology · 1998Reichart PA, Phillipsen HPDOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0714.1998.tb01949.x
- Betel Quid Health Risks of Insulin Resistance Diseases in Poor Young South Asian Native and Immigrant Populations.ReviewInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2020de la Monte SM, Moriel N, Lin A et al.DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17186690
- Betel nut chewing and the risk of chronic kidney disease: evidence from a meta-analysis.ReviewInternational urology and nephrology · 2018Wang M, Yu SY, Lv ZT et al.DOI: 10.1007/s11255-018-1819-8
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.
- external data available at URL
- www.gbif.org/dataset/93725bf2-6ada-47f9-bd5e-0e679e3d245e
Sources (7)
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Encyclopedic overview
13 sectionsContents
- 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.
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