Peperomia quadrifolia(L.) Kunth

fourleaf peperomia

WFO wfo-0000477281 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Peperomia quadrifolia, photographed by Skjold Søndergaard
fig. a Skjold Søndergaard, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-10-06 / obs. 162055976
Peperomia quadrifolia, photographed by Sam Kieschnick
fig. b Sam Kieschnick, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 43517307
Peperomia quadrifolia, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. c Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 52721082
Peperomia quadrifolia, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. d Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 29879854
Peperomia quadrifolia, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. e Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 9489323
Peperomia quadrifolia, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. f Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 4320274
Peperomia quadrifolia, photographed by Alejandro Gómez Maya
fig. g Alejandro Gómez Maya, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 29734262
Peperomia quadrifolia, photographed by Jorge Armín Escalante-Pasos
fig. h Jorge Armín Escalante-Pasos, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 1667887

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 25 botanical countries

Regions where Peperomia quadrifolia is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Bolivia, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBoliviaBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPeruPuerto RicoVenezuela
Native distribution of Peperomia quadrifolia, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Bolivia BOL SOUTHERN AMERICA
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Venezuela VEN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

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 89 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 4.6 °C 10.2 °C 16.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 17.6 °C 23.2 °C 28.0 °C
Annual rainfall 639 mm 1,930 mm 4,408 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 47 mm 189 mm 390 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 89 research-grade observations of Peperomia quadrifolia 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 31 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.

  • Acrocarpidium jamesonianum Miq.
  • Peperomia alpina M.Martens & Galeotti
  • Peperomia cabaiana Trel.
  • Peperomia circulifolia Trel.
  • Peperomia circulifolia var. eciliata Trel.
  • Peperomia circulifolia var. flava Trel.
  • Peperomia collicola Trel.
  • Peperomia jamesoniana (Miq.) C.DC.
  • Peperomia jamesoniana var. microphylla C.DC.
  • Peperomia luxii C.DC. ex Donn.Sm.
  • Peperomia portulacifolia Kunth
  • Peperomia pseudotetraphylla Trel.
  • Peperomia pseudotetraphylla var. dodgei Trel.
  • Peperomia pseudotetraphylla var. juvenalis Trel.
  • Peperomia quadrifolia f. angusta Dahlst.
  • Peperomia rioalbae Trel.
  • Peperomia santa-rosana C.DC.
  • Peperomia schomburgkii C.DC.
  • Peperomia standleyi Trel.
  • Peperomia stenocaulis C.DC.
  • Peperomia subpeltata C.DC.
  • Peperomia subquadrifolia Trel.
  • Peperomia subrenifolia Trel. & Yunck.
  • Peperomia subrenifolia var. microphylla (C.DC.) Trel. & Yunck.

and 7 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.