Flora of North America species comparison

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Peperomia glabella

Peperomia

cypress peperomia

peperomia
Habit Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous, erect, decumbent, or reclining, simple or branched, 8-45 cm, mostly glabrous, with numerous black, glandular dots. Herbs, annual or perennial, erect, decumbent, or prostrate, terrestrial or epiphytic, glabrous or pubescent, sometimes glandular-dotted.
Leaves

blade 3-5-veined from base, ovate to narrowly or broadly elliptic, 2-6.5 × 1-4 cm, base nearly rounded to broadly cuneate, apex acute to short-acuminate;

surfaces mostly glabrous.

blade conspicuously or inconspicuously veined, lateral veins ascending-arching, or inconspicuous, tertiary veins apparently absent or very faint.
Spikes

terminal or terminal and axillary, 1-4, densely flowered, 3-13 cm, mature fruiting spikes 2-3 mm diam.

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, very broadly ovoid to globose, 0.7-0.8 × 0.6-0.7 mm, warty;

beak obliquely conic, 0.1-0.2 mm.

sessile or stipitate, globose, ovoid, oblong, or pyriform, surface warty, minutely reticulate, or faintly striate, ± viscid;

beak mammiform or elongate, straight, bent, or hooked.

Peperomia glabella

Peperomia
Phenology Flowering all year.
Habitat Epiphytic or terrestrial
Elevation 0-20 m (0-100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; West Indies; n South America
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Mostly tropical and subtropical worldwide; especially tropical America and s Asia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 1000 (7 in the flora).

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

In addition to the species below, Peperomia simplex Hamilton has been attributed to southern Florida, but no verifying specimens have been seen. A single specimen of Peperomia emarginella (Swartz ex Wikström) C. de Candolle is in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden. The specimen may be from southeastern United States.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Stems strigose; leaves opposite or whorled, sometimes proximal leaves alternate.
P. humilis
1. Stems glabrous or mostly so; leaves alternate.
→ 2
2. Plants with numerous black, glandular dots.
P. glabella
2. Plants without black, glandular dots, or leaves occasionally with yellowish, resinous or pellucid dots.
→ 3
3. Leaf blade rounded, truncate, cordate, or auriculate at base.
→ 4
3. Leaf blade narrowly to broadly cuneate, attenuate, or acuminate at base.
→ 5
4. Leaf blade auriculate and ± clasping at base; petiole absent or to ca. 3 mm.
P. amplexicaulis
4. Leaf blade rounded, truncate, or cordate at base, never clasping; petiole ca. 1/2 length of blade.
P. pellucida
5. Beak of fruit mammiform or conic, 0.2 mm or less; leaf blade elliptic, lanceolate, or oblanceolate; petiole slightly dilated and clasping at base, decurrent in lines or conspicuous interrnodal wings along stem.
P. alata
5. Beak of fruit elongate, 0.5–1 mm; leaf blade oblanceolate, elliptic-obovate, ovate, or spatulate; petiole not dilated at base, if appearing to be clasping, then not decurrent in lines or wings along stem.
→ 6
6. Peduncle with microscopic, spiculelike hairs; beak of fruit filiform above conic base, abruptly hooked near apex.
P. obtusifolia
6. Peduncle glabrous; beak of fruit tapering smoothly from broadened base to sharply acute apex, straight, bent, or gradually hooked from about middle.
→ 7
7. Leaves petiolate; leaf blade slightly decurrent along petiole, neither auriculate nor clasping.
P. magnoliifolia
7. Leaves sessile or nearly sessile; leaf blade auriculate at base, ± clasping.
P. amplexicaulis
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Piperaceae > Peperomia Piperaceae
Sibling taxa
P. alata, P. amplexicaulis, P. humilis, P. magnoliifolia, P. obtusifolia, P. pellucida
Subordinate taxa
P. alata, P. amplexicaulis, P. glabella, P. humilis, P. magnoliifolia, P. obtusifolia, P. pellucida
Synonyms Piper glabellum
Name authority (Swartz) A. Dietrich: Sp. Pl. 1: 156. (1831) Ruiz & Pavon: Fl. Peruv. Prodr., 8. (1794)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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