Pretty Peperomias

Peperomia blanda var. floribunda
Peperomia tetraphylla
 FAMILY: PIPERACEAE
We are not famous, in this region, for shade.

There is some in our rainforests and gullies, though, and it provides us with some very good plants for growing in those difficult shady places in the garden.

Our two local Peperomia species fit the bill nicely.

This one is hairy peperomia,  Peperomia blanda var. floribunda.

Peperomia blanda is a very widespread species, with its two varieties growing naturally in a belt all around the warmer parts of the world.

The name “floribunda” implies that it gets lots of flowers, but don’t get excited – this is it!


The fruits are no more exciting. They are tiny and green. Their little black seeds are said to taste peppery, but this is really not a good way to get yourself a usable quantity of pepper.

I usually trim the flowers off, to let the plant get on with making its new season’s shoots.


Despite its lack of interesting features in the way of flowers and fruits, hairy peperomia is a quietly elegant plant, making a good filler in shady spots of the garden, and useful as a pot plant as well.
It is quite drought hardy.

A slightly more delicate plant, both in its looks and in its need for water, is the little four-leafed peperomia, Peperomia tetraphylla, which has its shiny leaves in whorls of four.


We usually notice it in the rainforests of our region, but it can also be found in damp gullies close to Toowoomba, on the eastern side of the Range. It will cling to little crevices in rocks, provided there is enough water for it, but it is also happy in a pot or in well-mulched and well-drained soil.

It is one of the little surprises of the plant world, that these little plants are in the same family as our giant pepper vine Piper hederacea (see my blog of January 24, 2016) and the pepper of commerce, Piper nigrum. At first glance there is little resemblance between these shy little fleshy-leafed plants and the enormous, shiny-leafed pepper vines.

A closer look at the leaves, however, lets us see the family resemblance.

Giant Pepper vine, Piper hederaceum

 Hairy peperomia, Peperomia blanda var. floribunda.