Family : Piperaceae

English : Betel pepper

Hindi : Pan

Gujarati : Nagarvel

Sanskrit : Tambul

Part used : Leaves

Botanical Description: A perrenial dioecious root climber, leaves simple, broadly ovate, slightly cordate, shortly acuminate, acute, entire, glabrous, yellwoish or bright green, shining on both sides, male spikes dense, cylinderical, female spikes pendulous, bracts triangular to rotundate, rachispilose; fruits rarely produced, immersed in the fleshy spikes forming nudule like structures. Flowering and fruiting from September to December.

It is cultivated in the hotter parts of India.

Modern Pharmacological Action:The leaf posses activity like antidiabetic,antiulcer, antiplatelet aggregation, antifertility, cardiotonic, antitumour, antimutagenic, respiratory depressant and antihelminthic. Piper betel is used to treat alcoholism, bronchitis, asthama, leprosy and dyspepsia. Earlier, anti‐ulcerogenic activity of Piper betel was attributed to its antioxidative property. A preliminary study has reported Piper betel leaves extracts contains large numbers of bioactive molecules like polyphenols, alkaloids, steroids, saponins and tannins. The leaves extract of Piper betel have also been reported to exhibit biological capabilities of detoxication, antioxidation, and antimutation that suggested the chemopreventive potential of extracts against various ailments including liver fibrosis and carcinoma.