Peperomia leptostachyaHook. & Arn.

Aridland peperomia

WFO wfo-0000477565 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Peperomia leptostachya, photographed by Steve Fitzgerald
fig. a Steve Fitzgerald, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-06-10 / obs. 204786538
Peperomia leptostachya, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. b Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 203460206
Peperomia leptostachya, photographed by Hugo Innes
fig. c Hugo Innes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 200945652
Peperomia leptostachya, photographed by Thomas Mesaglio
fig. d Thomas Mesaglio, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198589673
Peperomia leptostachya, photographed by Hugo Innes
fig. e Hugo Innes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 196747229
Peperomia leptostachya, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. f Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 195858281
Peperomia leptostachya, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. g Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 187458552
Peperomia leptostachya, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. h Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180748188

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 47 botanical countries

Regions where Peperomia leptostachya is native: Burundi, Cape Provinces, DR Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gulf of Guinea Is., Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Seychelles, Socotra, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Oman, Taiwan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, New South Wales, Queensland, Caroline Is., Cook Is., Fiji, Hawaii, Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Samoa, Society Is., Tonga, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is. BurundiCape ProvincesDR CongoEswatiniEthiopiaGulf of Guinea Is.KenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiMozambiqueNorthern ProvincesRwandaTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanOmanTaiwanYemenBangladeshCambodiaIndiaLaosMalayaMyanmarSri LankaThailandVietnamNew South WalesQueenslandFijiHawaii SeychellesCaroline Is.Cook Is.MarquesasPitcairn Is.SamoaSociety Is.TongaTuamotuTubuai Is.
Native distribution of Peperomia leptostachya, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Burundi BUR AFRICA
Cape Provinces CPP
DR Congo ZAI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Seychelles SEY
Socotra SOC
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Cook Is. COO
Fiji FIJ
Hawaii HAW
Marquesas MRQ
Pitcairn Is. PIT
Samoa SAM
Society Is. SCI
Tonga TON
Tuamotu TUA
Tubuai Is. TUB
Bangladesh BAN ASIA-TROPICAL
Cambodia CBD
India IND
Laos LAO
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Oman OMA
Taiwan TAI
Yemen YEM
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD

Not drawn on the map: Socotra. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 866 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 6.0 °C 9.4 °C 20.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.3 °C 27.4 °C 29.7 °C
Annual rainfall 820 mm 1,198 mm 3,483 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 52 mm 132 mm 356 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 866 research-grade observations of Peperomia leptostachya that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 34 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Peperomia afra E.Mey. ex Miq.
  • Peperomia arabica Decne. ex Miq.
  • Peperomia arabica var. floribunda Miq.
  • Peperomia arabica var. parvifolia C.DC.
  • Peperomia baueriana var. brisbaniana C.DC.
  • Peperomia bequaertii De Wild.
  • Peperomia blanda var. floribunda (Miq.) H.Huber
  • Peperomia blanda var. leptostachya (Hooker & Arn.) Düll
  • Peperomia brachytrichoides Engl.
  • Peperomia caffra E.Mey. ex Miq.
  • Peperomia candollei St.John
  • Peperomia dindygulensis Miq.
  • Peperomia dindygulensis var. hirsuta Trimen
  • Peperomia esquirolii H.Lév.
  • Peperomia insularum Miq.
  • Peperomia kyimbilana C.DC.
  • Peperomia leptostachya f. cambodiana C.DC.
  • Peperomia leptostachya f. carnosior C.DC.
  • Peperomia leptostachya var. attenuapica Yunck.
  • Peperomia leptostachya var. cambodiana (C.DC.) Merr.
  • Peperomia leptostachya var. laxiflora Miq.
  • Peperomia leptostachya var. macrophylla (Setch.) Yunck.
  • Peperomia leptostachya var. marquesensis F.Br.
  • Peperomia leptostachya var. nodosa Hillebr.

and 10 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.