PIPER BETEL. 51 



PIPER BETEL, Linn. 



[Vide Plates XCI. and XCIa.] 



Betel-leaf pepper ; pan (Hind.) ; tanbol (Arab.) ; tambula (Sans.). 



Natural order Piperacece. A climbing perennial smooth dioecious herb. Leaves alternate 

 large, entire, coriaceous, cordate, obliquely ovate-oblong or rounded, 5-7 nerved. Flowers minute 

 in spikes. Male spikes 3-6 inches. Female spikes on long peduncles, 1-5 inches, stout, pendulous. 



This plant is a native of the Indian Archipelago. It is extensively grown in 

 Ceylon and in the moister parts of India. 



In these Provinces its cultivation is restricted to the warmer and damper eastern 

 and southern districts. A variety grown in Bundelkhand is in great request in Upper 

 India. Special care has to be taken to protect the plants from wind, and to keep up a 

 continuous degree of moisture within the plantation. 



The following account of the cultivation of this plant in the Azamgarh district is 

 taken from the Gazetteer of the North- Western Provinces, Vol. XIII., p. 52 : — 



" Pan or betel pepper is grown only by the professional cultivators and vendors called Barais. 

 " The lands on which it is grown are called barej. It is mostly grown in pargana Mahul, but even 

 " there its cultivation is decreasing. Pan beds are formed upon the banks of old tanks. The best 

 " soil is a clean blackish mouldy clay. A bank having been selected, the ground is dug up to the 

 " depth of 6 or 7 inches and levelled off in even slopes on both sides of tbe bank. Earth is then 

 " taken from the dry bed of the tank, pounded into dust and laid over the bauk 3 or 4 inches deep, 

 "and the whole, bank well watered with the hand. Ashed is then erected on the bank. It is 

 " usually 6 or 7 feet high and enclosed on all sides. Tbe doors are on tbe tank side of the bank 

 " and are provided with screens. The supports of the shed are in some places entirely of bamboo, 

 " but in others cuttings of a quick-growing plant (Euphorbia), called pharbat, are planted round the 

 " bank to form supports. The walls are made thick in order to keep out the wind ; but tbe roof is 

 " thiu enough to admit a certain amount of sunlight and to allow rain to pass through gently in 

 " small drops. Poi (Basella), and other light climbing vegetables are frequently planted inside the 

 " shed. Climbing up they spread over the roof and form part of it. The supports of the shed are 

 " generally called koro, the walls tatti, the roof md.ro ; and the whole conservatory or garden is called 

 " baraith. The ground within the larailh is divided into strips about 2 feet broad running over 

 " the bank from one side to the other. Each alternate strip, called an dtar, is planted with pdn, and 

 " it is by the dtar that rent, varying from one anna to six per dtar, is charged by the proprietor of the 

 u land. The vacant strips serve as passages, and are called pahs or pairahs. Pan is planted in the 

 " atars in rows (inur or khdt) from four to six rows to the dtar. It is not raised from seed but from 

 " cuttings. These are cut with three or more joints {unkh). They are placed in little furrows and 

 u lightly covered with soil. A layer of thatching grass or rushes is then laid upon the furrow and 



* References :— JFl. Br. Ind., V., 85 ; Roxb., Fl. lnd. (Clarke's Ed.). 53 ; Hunter in As. Res., IX., 390 ; Royle, III. 

 Him. Bot, 332 ; Yule and Burnell, Gloss., 67 ; Pharmacogr. Ind., III., 183 ; Wright, Mem. Agri. Cawnpore, 68. Chavica 

 Betel, Miq. ; Wight, Ic. t. 2926 ; Atkinson, Him. Dist , 768 ; Econom. Prod. N.-W. Prov., V., 32. Rheede. Hort. Mai., VII., 

 29, t. 15. 



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