• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Description

Family Piperaceae

Herbs, shrubs , or climbers , rarely trees , usually aromatic . Vascular bundles ± scattered in transverse section in a monocotyledonlike manner. Tip of stem sometimes enclosed within a stipulelike sheath , the prophyll, sometimes adnate to petiole , absent in Peperomia. Leaves alternate, often opposite or whorled in Peperomia, simple , base often asymmetric , palmately or pinnately veined. Inflorescence a pedunculate spike, rarely grouped into an umbel, rarely a raceme (in Zippelia), leaf-opposed or axillary , rarely terminal . Flowers small, bisexual , hermaphroditic , polygamous or dioecious, nearly always sessile; bracts small, usually peltate or cupular, usually without perianth. Stamens 1-10; filaments usually free ; anthers 2-locular, distinct or connate , longitudinally dehiscent . Gynoecium 2-5-carpellate, connate; ovary superior, 1-locular, ovule 1, orthotropous ; stigmas 1-5, sessile or with very short styles. Fruit a small drupe or nutlet ; pericarp fleshy , thin or dry, sometimes with sticky papillae (in Peperomia) or glochidiate spines (in Zippelia) . Seeds with copious starchy perisperm and a minute embryo embedded in small endosperm.

About eight or nine genera and 2000-3000 species: tropical and subtropical regions, mostly in North and South America, rather fewer in Asia, a few in Africa; three genera and 68 species (36 endemic, four introduced ) in China.[1]

Genus Peperomia

Herbs, annual or perennial , erect , decumbent , or prostrate , terrestrial or epiphytic, glabrous or pubescent , sometimes glandular-dotted. Leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled , glabrous or pubescent, or glandular . Leaf blade conspicuously or inconspicuously veined, lateral veins ascending-arching, or inconspicuous, tertiary veins apparently absent or very faint. Spikes terminal , terminal and axillary , or opposite leaves, densely to loosely flowered. Flowers sessile, borne on surface or in pitlike depressions of rachis, floral bracts glabrous or glandular-dotted; stamens 2, attached at base of ovary; stigma 1, sometimes cleft . Fruits sessile or stipitate , globose , ovoid , oblong , or pyriform , surface warty, minutely reticulate , or faintly striate , ± viscid ; beak mammiform or elongate , straight, bent, or hooked .

Species ca. 1000: mostly tropical and subtropical worldwide, especially tropical America and s Asia.

Many species of Peperomia are used as houseplants, greenhouse plants , and, in warm regions, garden plants.[2]

Habitat

Ecology: An epiphytic herb found in lower montane coastal forest (300 m ).[3]

Taxonomy

Notes

Publishing author : C.DC. Publication : Bull . Herb. Boissier vi. 507.

Similar Species

Members of the genus Peperomia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 2170 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

P. abbreviatipes · P. abdita · P. abnormis · P. abrupte-acutata · P. abruptifolia · P. abscondita · P. abyssinica · P. acaponetae · P. acaulis · P. aceramarcana · P. aceramarcana var. variifolia · P. aceroana · P. aceromarcana · P. achoteana · P. acreana · P. acrostigma · P. acuminata · P. acuminatifolia · P. acuminatissima · P. acutifolia · P. acutilimba · P. adamsonia · P. adenocarpa · P. adscendens · P. adsurgens · P. aemula · P. aerea · P. affinis · P. agapatensis · P. aggravescens · P. agitata · P. aguabonitensis · P. aguacalientis · P. aguacatensis · P. aguaditana · P. aguilae · P. agusanensis · P. ainana · P. ajoupana · P. alata (Winged Peperomia) · P. alata var. pterocaulis · P. alatiscapa · P. albert-smithii · P. albert-smithii var. villosa · P. albertiana · P. albescens · P. albidiflora · P. albispica · P. albolineata · P. albostriata · P. albovittata · P. aldrinii · P. alegrensis · P. alexanderi · P. alibacophylla · P. alismifolia · P. allagotacta · P. alleni · P. allorgeana · P. alpina · P. alsinoides · P. alternifolia (Alternate-Leaf Peperomia) · P. alveolata · P. alwynii · P. amantlanensis · P. ambiguifolia · P. americana · P. amnicola · P. amphioxys · P. amphitricha · P. amphoricarpa · P. amplexicaulis (Jackie's Saddle) · P. amplexicaulis var. swartziana · P. amplexifolia · P. anderssonii · P. andicola · P. andina · P. andinacea · P. andina var. pseudoperuviana · P. andrei · P. aneura · P. angularis · P. angulata · P. angulata var. parvifolia · P. angustata · P. angustata var. santamartae · P. angustilimba · P. anisophylla · P. annobonensis · P. anomala · P. antennifera · P. antillarum · P. antioquiensis · P. antoni · P. antoniana · P. aphanoneura · P. aphylla · P. apiahyensis · P. apoana · P. apoda

More Info

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Further Reading

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• Tseng Yung-chien, Chen Pei-shan & Zhu Pei-zhi. 1982. Piperaceae. In: Tseng Yung-chien, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 20(1): 11-78.
• Boufford, D. E. 1982. Notes on Peperomia (Piperaceae) in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 63: 317-325.

Notes

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Contributors

• Santiana, J. & Pitman, N. 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008.
• Santiana, J. & Pitman, N. 2004. Peperomia aphanoneura. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 21 October 2006.
• The International Plant Names Index. Accessed Jan 19, 2007.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 5988963
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15731604
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:677998-1
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 188283-2
• IUCN ID: 45767
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1028730

Footnotes

1. Yung-chien Tseng, Nianhe Xia & Michael G. Gilbert "Piperaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 4 Page 110. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Peperomia". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
3. Santiana, J. & Pitman, N. 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008. [back]