Peperomia tetraphylla(G.Forst.) Hook. & Arn.

acorn peperomia

WFO wfo-0000479217 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Peperomia tetraphylla, photographed by Thomas Mesaglio
fig. a Thomas Mesaglio, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-08 / obs. 196482152

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 82 botanical countries

Regions where Peperomia tetraphylla is native: Cameroon, Cape Provinces, DR Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Socotra, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan, Tibet, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, New South Wales, New Zealand North, Norfolk Is., Queensland, Mexican Pacific Is., Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Society Is., Tubuai Is., Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela CameroonCape ProvincesDR CongoEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGabonGuineaGulf of Guinea Is.KenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoLiberiaMalawiMozambiqueNorthern ProvincesRwandaSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastTaiwanTibetAssamBangladeshEast HimalayaIndiaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MyanmarNepalPhilippinesSri LankaThailandVietnamWest HimalayaNew South WalesNew Zealand NorthQueenslandMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoUruguayVenezuela MauritiusRéunionNorfolk Is.Society Is.Tubuai Is.
Native distribution of Peperomia tetraphylla, 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
Cameroon CMN AFRICA
Cape Provinces CPP
DR Congo ZAI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gabon GAB
Guinea GUI
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Liberia LBR
Malawi MLW
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Sierra Leone SIE
Socotra SOC
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
Mexican Pacific Is. MXI NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
China North-Central CHN ASIA-TEMPERATE
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
New Zealand North NZN
Norfolk Is. NFK
Queensland QLD
Society Is. SCI PACIFIC
Tubuai Is. TUB

Not drawn on the map: Socotra, Mexican Pacific Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are 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.

Flowering 89 in flower of 134 examined

Proportion of examined Peperomia tetraphylla in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 10 14 71% 45% to 88%
Feb 9 15 60% 36% to 80%
Mar 8 9 89% 56% to 98%
Apr 5 9 56% 27% to 81%
May 11 15 73% 48% to 89%
Jun 4 6 67% 30% to 90%
Jul 5 7 71% 36% to 92%
Aug 7 9 78% 45% to 94%
Sep 10 14 71% 45% to 88%
Oct 6 11 55% 28% to 79%
Nov 7 9 78% 45% to 94%
Dec 7 16 44% 23% to 67%

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Peperomia tetraphylla observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 89 of 134 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,633 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 2.6 °C 8.2 °C 19.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 19.5 °C 24.3 °C 28.0 °C
Annual rainfall 704 mm 1,600 mm 4,104 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 34 mm 174 mm 449 mm

It is found where winters are cool but frost is light or absent. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,633 research-grade observations of Peperomia tetraphylla 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. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 66 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.

  • Micropiper pusillum (Blume) Miq.
  • Peperomia aemula (Endl.) Endl.
  • Peperomia affinis Domin ex F.M.Bailey
  • Peperomia americana (Miq.) Herter
  • Peperomia arechavaletae var. minor Herter
  • Peperomia baturiteana C.DC.
  • Peperomia berroi Trel.
  • Peperomia cartagoana Trel.
  • Peperomia chrysolepida Trel.
  • Peperomia diehliana Trel.
  • Peperomia fontinalis (Roem. & Schult.) A.Dietr.
  • Peperomia novae-zelandiae Colenso
  • Peperomia opaca Trel.
  • Peperomia opaca var. ciliata Trel.
  • Peperomia parvula Hillebr.
  • Peperomia quaternata Miq.
  • Peperomia reflexa (L.f.) A.Dietr.
  • Peperomia reflexa f. americana Miq.
  • Peperomia reflexa f. argentina C.DC.
  • Peperomia reflexa f. brevipes Dahlst.
  • Peperomia reflexa f. capensis Miq.
  • Peperomia reflexa f. forsteriana Miq.
  • Peperomia reflexa f. longipes Dahlst.
  • Peperomia reflexa f. nilghirica Miq.

and 42 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.