Intraspecific Morpho-Anatomical Study of Piper betle L. from South West Bengal, India: A Systematic Approach

Abstract

Piper betle L. is an economically noteworthy species from West Bengal. A bunch of its varieties are cultivated throughout the southern part of West Bengal for their commercial and medicinal values. This study aspires to establish a systematic interrelationship among these taxa for better understanding in the future. Characterization based on morpho-anatomical attributes was performed to realize the correlation among them. The necessity of scientific identification and classification of this species at the intraspecific level is understood. This study has revealed P. betle var. calcuttia bangla and P. betle var. kali bangla share maximum similarity between them based on the morpho-anatomical features. On the other hand, P. betle var. meetha and P. betle var. sanchi has shown a lot of parity between them, especially in having stronger laminar aroma and floral traits.