Betel
or BETLE, the English name of the piper betle, a shrubby plant with evergreen leaves, belonging to the typical genus of the order piperaceæ (pepperworts). It is extensively cultivated in the East Indies. Its leaf is used as a wrapper to inclose a few slices of the areca palm nut with a little shell lime. The southern Asiatics are perpetually chewing it to sweeten the breath, to strengthen the stomach, and, if hunger be present, to deaden its cravings. It is called pan, or pan sooparee.