Betel leaf plant (Engl.)

A dioecious, smooth climbing vine. Height: 2 to 4 meters Leaves: An evergreen perennial, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkin. Flowers: Male spikes are subpendulous, slender, 7 to 13.5 centimeters long, and 2 to 3.5 millimeters in diameter. Rachis is hairy. Stamens are two, stalked, 0.75 to 1 millimeter long; and the anthers reniform. Female spikes, when mature, are red, fleshy, oblong to elongated oblong, 3 to 8 centimeters long, and 0.5 to 1 centimeter thick. Rachis is hairy, and the bracts stalkless, peltate, with a smooth disk, transversely oblong to suborbicular, and about 1 centimeter wide. Fruits: The fruits are sparingly produced on fleshy spikes. Fruit is coalescing, fully embedded in the pulp and concrescent with the rachis.