Piper betle

• Botanical Name : Piper betle L.
• Common Name : Nagvel, Nagarvel, Betel Leaf
• Plant Family : Piperaceae
• Plant Form : Climbers
• Occurrence (Special Areas) : Indroda Park, Ayurvedic Udyan

About Piper betle Plant :

• Habit : A perennial dioecious climber, quite glabrous or with the petioles puberulous, stem and branches stout climbing compressed when dry.
• Leaves : Large coriaceous petioled obliquely ovate-oblong or rounded ovate-cordate 5-7 nerved, base often unequal.
• Inflorescence :
  • Spikes long and long peduncled.
  • Male spikes 3-6 in.,female spikes long-peduncled.
• Fruits :
  • Very fleshy and often confluent into a cylindric fleshy red mass.
  • Stout 1-5 in. pendulous.
• Significance : It is widely cultivated for its leaf which is chewed almost universally.