Flora of North America species comparison

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Peperomia glabella

Peperomia pellucida

cypress peperomia

man to man
Habit Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous, erect, decumbent, or reclining, simple or branched, 8-45 cm, mostly glabrous, with numerous black, glandular dots. Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, erect or decumbent, freely branched, 10-50 cm, glabrous, without black, glandular dots.
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 palmately 5-7-veined, broadly ovate to deltate, 0.6-4 × 0.5-3 cm, base truncate, rounded, or cordate, apex acute to slightly acuminate;

surfaces glabrous.
Spikes

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

axillary, terminal, and opposite leaves, solitary, rarely 2-more, loosely flowered, 2-6 cm, mature fruiting spikes 1-2 mm diam.
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, very broadly ovoid to globose, 0.5-0.7 × 0.4-0.5 mm, longitudinally ribbed with ladderlike reticulations;

beak minute, conic, ca. 0.1 mm.

Peperomia glabella

Peperomia pellucida
Phenology Flowering all year. Flowering all year.
Habitat Epiphytic or terrestrial In shaded woods and around nurseries and greenhouses, along coastal plain
Elevation 0-20 m (0-100 ft) 0-20 m (0-100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; West Indies; n South America
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; GA; LA; Mexico; Central America; West Indies; n South America
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Peperomia pellucida has shown antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli; it could have potential as a broad spectrum antibiotic (A. C. Bojo et al. 1994).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Piperaceae > Peperomia Piperaceae > Peperomia
Sibling taxa
P. alata, P. amplexicaulis, P. humilis, P. magnoliifolia, P. obtusifolia, P. pellucida
P. alata, P. amplexicaulis, P. glabella, P. humilis, P. magnoliifolia, P. obtusifolia
Synonyms Piper glabellum Piper pellucidum
Name authority (Swartz) A. Dietrich: Sp. Pl. 1: 156. (1831) (Linnaeus) Kunth: in A. von Humboldt et al., Nov. Gen. Sp. 1: 64. (1816)
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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