Ikmo
Piper betle · Betel
- Names in the 1901 book
- Hojas de buyo, Sp.-Fil.; Itmó, Tag.; Mamin, Bic.; Buyo, Mamón, Vis.; Samat, Pam.; Betel Pepper, Eng.
- Names in the 1985 book
- English: Betel Leaf Pepper; Tagalog: Buyo anis, Ikmo; Ilocano: Gaw-wed; Visayan: Kanisi, Buyok, Buyo
- Colours
- flowercreamleafgreen
- Native range
- Maritime Southeast Asia
- Family
- Piperaceae, filed in the book under Piperaceæ
- Printed in 1901 as
- Piper Betle, L. (Chavica Betle and C. auriculata, Miq.; Piper Betel, Blanco.)
- Printed in 1985 as
- Piper beetle L.
- Sources
- Page 204 on Project Gutenberg · Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 78 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Betel (Piper betle) is a species of flowering plant in the pepper family Piperaceae, native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious vine, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel plants are cultivated for their leaves, which are most commonly used as flavoring for chewing areca nut in so-called betel quid (often confusingly referred to as "betel nut"), which is carcinogenic, contains a psychostimulant drug, and is associated with a wide range of serious health conditions.
Excerpt from “Betel” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Ang ikmo o buyo (Ingles: betel, betel pepper, piper betle, piper betel) ay isang panimplang halaman na nagagamit ang mga dahon para sa mga pabibigay-lunas na pang-medisina.
Sipi mula sa “Ikmo” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 442 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 43 provinces, most often Zamboanga del Norte (28), Nueva Ecija (15), Laguna (13), Cavite (9), Batanes (8), Guimaras (8), Iloilo (8), Agusan del Sur (8), and 35 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
A masticatory, used all over the extreme Orient, is composed of the leaves of this plant, a little slaked oyster-shell lime and a rounded slice of the bonga or areca nut; the Filipinos call this combination bayo, though the name is not of native origin; the Tagalos call it hitsú. The use of buyo by careless persons is decidedly repugnant, for the mixture of the lime and the pigment of the bonga imparts a blood-red or rather brick-red color to the saliva which they spit in mouthfuls into the streets and other public places with no thought of the feelings of others. Unless the mouth is carefully cleaned the teeth become encrusted with a sort of black enamel and the breath assumes a detestable odor. When used in small quantities and with proper toilet of the mouth, and this is the common practice among the Filipinos, buyo seems to be a very useful preservative of the teeth and a gingival and stomachic tonic. These properties are readily understood when we consider that the lime is antacid, the bonga astringent and tonic and the betel aromatic and stimulant.
The buyo leaf plays a very important part in the therapeutics of the infant of the Philippines: in its indigestions, colics and diarrhœas the heated leaves are applied to the abdomen previously anointed with hot cocoanut oil. In bronchitis and laryngitis the heated leaves are applied over the chest or neck after rubbing the parts with oil. It undoubtedly produces good effects and the physicians of India recommend it in the same cases and in the same form as in the Philippines. Applied to the breasts of parturient women it dries up the milk and in the same way tends to reduce any glandular enlargement.
Dr. Kleinstück of Java recommends the essence of the leaves in all sorts of catarrhs and as an antiseptic in doses of one drop to 140 of the vehicle. This essence is obtained by distillation; it is dark in color, has an acrid taste and an odor resembling that of tea. Its density is 1.020. The dried leaves contain one-half per cent. of the essence and it is probable that the fresh ones contain a greater proportion.
Botanical description
A plant with yellow flowers and scandent stem, climbing straight up trees or artificial supports. Leaves cleft at the base, acute, entire, glabrous, dark green. According to Blanco it is cultivated best in somewhat sandy soil. Pasay, near Manila, and Bauang, in Batangas, furnish a leaf most highly appreciated.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- Underarm body odorLeaf juice mixed with kalamansi juice as a deodorant.Apply after every bath and at bedtime.Page 43
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Buyo” on page 78. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Molecular Docking and Dynamics Simulation of Natural Compounds from Betel Leaves (Piper betle L.) for Investigating the Potential Inhibition of Alpha-Amylase and Alpha-Glucosidase of Type 2 Diabetes
- Antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli of extracted Piper betle leaf materials by disc diffusion assay and batch experiments
- Betelvine (Piper betle L.): A comprehensive insight into its ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, and pharmacological, biomedical and therapeutic attributes