betel, betel leaf, daun sirih, daka

Description:

This is the largest Piper betle vine I've ever seen. The base (2nd photo) is the size of a large forearm. This entry is an update of a previous spotting from May 2012 http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/109... to show this increase in size. Betel is cultivated in New Guinea for its leaves and fruits (not shown, see previous spotting) which are used in combination (usually with slaked lime) in the chewing of the the Areca catechu palm http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/714... nut (often referred to as "betel nut"). Betel is "valued both as a mild stimulant and for its medicinal properties. Betel leaf [or fruit] is mostly consumed in Asia [and the Pacific], and elsewhere in the world by some Asian emigrants..." The three-part concoction "is an addictive [mild] psycho-stimulating and euphoria-inducing formulation with adverse health effects." It is suspected as a causal factor in oral squamous cell cancer, the most common malignant tumour in Papua New Guinea. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13551...

Habitat:

Planted by a matoa tree (Pometia pinnata) in a large semi-urban yard & garden in the equatorial tropics of northern New Guinea.

Notes:

Did you see the green tree skink (Lamprolepis smaragdina http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/165... ) in the last photo. Extra points if you did. :-)