An Investigation of the Vegetative Anatomy of Piper sarmentosum, and a Comparison with the Anatomy of Piper betle (Piperaceae)

This paper describes the detailed anatomy and micromorphology of the vegetative parts of Piper sarmentosum Roxb. (synonym, P. lolot C.DC.), which is a southeast Asian medicinal plant valued for its medicinal and culinary uses. The study also compares the anatomy of the leaf, petiole, stem and root of P. sarmentosum with those of the well-characterized P. betle L. The leaves of both the species are morphologically comparable and have similar culinary uses. The present study showed that the leaves of both the species possess more or less comparable anatomical features with a few differences; whereas, the microscopic features of the petiole, stem, and root of the two species are distinctive.