Betel

Widely cultivated, of uncertain origin, and used for medicinal, spice, and aromatic purposes.

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.

Cultivated. SE to SW China [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam; Africa (Madagascar)]

Betel (Piper betle) is a tropical shade-loving perennial evergreen vine. It is best known as a component of "betel nut" or "betel quid". Betel quid consists of slices of "areca nut" (usually the seed of the palm Areca catechu) wrapped in betel leaf, often with other components such as slaked lime (calcium hydroxide paste) and tobacco or spices for flavoring.

Chewing betel quid is addictive and is reportedly done daily by as many as 200 to 600 million people globally across the Indian subcontinent and through China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific--and immigrants to other parts of the world often continue to chew betel quid in their adopted countries. Among different populations, users may be demographically quite different, e.g., largely women in Cambodia, but mainly men among aboriginal Taiwanese. At least in the Western Pacific Region, there is evidence that the frequency of betel quid use is increasing and that this use is increasingly associated with the chewing of tobacco.

Although chewing betel quid is encouraged by some traditional medicine practitioners, there is much scientific evidence of diverse and substantial harm to the user's health resulting from this practice, including the induction of oral precancerous lesions that have a high propensity to progress, periodontal disease, and a range of systemic problems. As these negative health impacts have become clearer, this has elevated concern among public health experts, including those at the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Betel is typically propagated asexually from stem cuttings rather than from seeds.The leaves of other Piper species are sometimes substituted in betel chewing, but P. betle is the only one that has been domesticated specifically for chewing. Primarily in the Moluccas and Papua New Guinea, the young inflorescences of P. betle are reportedly preferred to the leaves.

(Gupta and Ray 2004; Lin et al. 2006 and references therein; Blank et al. 2008; Zumbroich 2008; Singh et al. 2012 and references therein; Al-Rmalli et al. 2011 and references therein)

Piper betle L. f. betle

Piper betle L., Sp. Pl., 28, 1753 [sensu stricto].

This is very variable in leaf shape but there seems to be no order to the variation, so it is difficult to separate the glabrous Marianas plants as Opiz did in his P. marianum (vide infra), except on leaf width and prominence of cordate base. The typical form is here restricted to plants with rather oblong-ovate leaves, shallowly cordate at base.

GEOGRAPHIC RECORDS AND SPECIMENS EXAMINED

MARIANAS ISLANDS.—Yuncker, 1959:90 (as P. betle).

Agrigan: Hosokawa 8009 (A), 8011 (A).

Alamagan: Anderson 418 (US); “Chalan nitiput,” s.s.w. coast, Falanruw 1929 (US).

Sarigan: Hole in savanna plateau above village, 350–375 m, Evans 2371 (US, UH, Fo, K).

Saipan: Hosokawa 6658 (A); Kanehira 892 (BISH); Kanehira, 1935:305 (as P. betle); Mt. Tagkochao, Stone 5424 (US).

Rota: Slopes above As Malote, south side of island, Fosberg 31877 (US).

Guam: G.E.S. 190 (US, BISH); Mt. Tenjo, 300 m, Bryan 1248 (US, BISH, FU); Mangilao, Perez in 1962 (UG).

CAROLINE ISLANDS.—Yap: Gagil, Cushing 660 (US, Fo).

Piper betle f. marianum (Opiz) Fosberg

Piper betle f. marianum (Opiz) Fosberg, Phytologia, 13:235, 1966.

Piper marianum Opiz in Presl, Rel. Haenk., 1:159, 1828 [type from Guam, Haenke, not seen by us].—Endlicher, Ann. Wien. Mus. Naturgesch., 1:164, 1835.—Kunth, Linnaea, 13: 574, 1839; Ann. Sci. Nat. II, Bot., 14:179, 1840.—Safford, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb., 9:354, 1905.

Piper potamogetonifolium Opiz in Presl, Rel. Haenk., 1:156, 1828 [type from Guam, Haenke, not seen by us].—Endlicher, Ann. Wien. Mus. Naturgesch., 1:164, 1835.—Safford, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb, 9:335, 1905.—Merrill, Phil. Jour. Sci. Bot., 9:72, 1914.—Kanehira, Enum. Micr. Pl., 305, 1935.—Yuncker, Occ. Pap. Bishop Mus., 22:83, 1959.—Fosberg, Phytologia, 13:235, 1966.

Macropiper potamogetonifolium (Opiz) Miquel, Syst. Pip., 218, 221, 1843–1844.

Piper betle δ mariannum C. de Candolle, Prodr., 16(1):360, 1869 [based on P. mariannum Opiz, which is a misspelling of P. marianum Opiz].

A broad-leafed, deeply cordate glabrous form. This has seldom been collected, at least in Micronesia. Its range extends to the Bonins and probably to other parts of the area of the species.

GEOGRAPHIC RECORDS AND SPECIMENS EXAMINED

MARIANAS ISLANDS.—Endlicher, 1835:164 (Haenke specimen of P. potamogetonifolium).

Saipan: Hosokawa 6658 (A).

Guam: Opiz, 1828:156, 159 [citing Haenke, types of P. marianum and P. potamogetonifolium, not seen by us].—Endlicher, 1835:164 [Haenke specimen of P. marianum].—Kunth, 1839:574, 1840, 179; Miquel, 1843–1844:218; Merrill, 1914:72 (“Collected in Guam by Haenke …”); Barrigada Village, Stone 5126 (US, BISH, UG).

Piper betle L

Piper betle L., Sp Pl. 28, 1753 [type from Ceylon, Hermann, not seen by us].—Endlicher, Ann. Wien. Mus. Naturgesch., 1:164, 1835.—Christian, The Caroline Islands, 337, 350, 1899.—Volkens, Bot. Jahrb., 31:461, 1901.—Safford, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb., 9:224, 353–354, 1905.—von Prowazek, Deutschen Marianen, 115, 1913.—Merrill, Phil. Jour. Sci. Bot. 9:72, 1914.—Kanehira, Enum. Micr. Pl., 304–305, 1935.—Okabe, Nettai Sangyô Kenkyû-sho ihô, 5:2, 1940; Jour. Anthrop. Soc. Nippon, 56:424, 1941.—Tuyama, Kagaku Nanyô, 4(1): 16, 1941.—Bryan, Plants of Guam [unpub., 1946?].—Glassman, Bishop Mus. Bull., 209:54, 1952 — Yuncker, Occ. Pap. Bishop Mus., 22:90–91, 1959.—Fosberg, Phytologia, 13:234, 1966.—Fosberg, Falanruw, and Sachet, Smithsonian Contr. Bot., 22:20, 1975.

Chavica bette (L.) Miquel, Syst. Pip., 228, 1843.

Piper betel L. ex Endlicher, Ann. Wien. Mus. Naturgesch., 1:164, 1835 [sphalm.].

Climber with broadly cordate to ovate-oblong leaves, aromatic and somewhat acrid to taste when crushed, main nerves 9, the outermost pair much weaker than the others, the innermost pair diverging from the midrib 1–2 cm above the base, more or less alternate, the rest basal; flowers dioecious, in oppositi-folious pedunculate spikes that are usually shorter than the leaves, staminate spikes with bracts imbricate, pistillate spikes much shorter and thicker than staminate, densely tomentose, about 6–8 mm thick, stamens 2, stigmas 5–7; fruits coalescent and somewhat embedded in rachis.

Found generally in the Indo-Pacific region from India as far east as the betel nut (Areca catechu L.) is chewed, that is, to New Guinea, Western Melanesia and Western Micronesia; usually planted or persisting from plantings, around old dwelling sites and gardens.

This is a very complex or variable species, as examination of the material in almost any large herbarium of tropical plants will show. No modern attempts to analyze and classify the variations have come to our attention. We have not tried to do this for the species as a whole, but have admitted three forms in Micronesia, all of which have been previously recognized as separate species or varieties, but which were placed in two varieties by Yuncker (1959:90–91). Of the two species that were based on Micronesian material, one has been reduced to lower rank, to include the broad-leafed Marianas specimens, while the other is placed in the synonymy of the typical form.

Piper betle f. densum (Blume) Fosberg

Piper betle f. densum (Blume) Fosberg, Phytologia, 13:235, 1966.

Piper densum Blume, Verh. Batav. Gen. 11:193, fig. 18, 1826 [type from Java, Blume, not seen by us].

Piper betle var. densum (Blume) C. de Candolle in de Candolle, Prodr., 16(1):360, 1869.—Yuncker, Occ. Pap. Bishop Mus., 22:90–91, 1959.

Leaves puberulent beneath on nerves.

Found in Micronesia in the Marianas (Alamagan and Guam) and in the Carolines (Sonsorol, Palau, Yap, Fais), and said to be on Ponape.

GEOGRAPHIC RECORDS AND SPECIMENS EXAMINED

MARIANAS ISLANDS.—Yuncker 1959:90–91 (as P. betle var. densum); Gaudichaud 77 bis (P).

Alamagan: Partido village, Fosberg 31667 (US, BISH, Fo, DPU); SSW coast, 500 ft [150 m], Falanruw 1914 (US).

Guam: Nelson 49 (BISH); Whiting P10 (Fo, US); Agaña, Seale in 1900 (BISH); Umatac water point, 100 m, Fosberg 35412 (US, BISH, Fo, DPU); Mt. Santa Rosa, Glassman 149 (Fo); Dededo, 100 m, Evans 721 (US).

CAROLINE ISLANDS.—Kanehira, 1935:305; Yuncker, 1959:91 (as P. betle var. densum).

Sonsorol: Berry 90 (US, UH) (puberulence only evident on very young leaves, leaf bases somewhat oblique).

Palau: Babeldaob: Ogiwaru, east coast, Takamatsu 1429 (BISH); Marikyoku (Melakiok), Kanehira 453 (FU). Angaur: East side, 3–5 m, Fosberg 31995 (US).

Yap: Volkens, 1901:461 (citing Volkens 303, not seen by us); 40 ft [12 m], Wong 484 (US, Fo); Gorror I., central plateau, 100 ft [30 m], Hosaka 3307 (US, BISH).

Fais: Lochochoy, 5 m, Evans 357 (US, Fo) (leaves not very deeply cordate).

Ponape: Glassman, 1952:54 (plant observed, not collected).