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Peperomia inaequalifolia; photograph Chris Kirby-Lambert, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYChris Kirby-Lambert, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Peperomia inaequalifolia Ruiz & Pav.

Piperaceae · Colombia, Ecuador +2 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Peperomia inaequalifolia, photograph Wes Gapp, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFPeperomia inaequalifolia, photograph Zoltán Stekkelpak, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIFPeperomia inaequalifolia, photograph Carrie Seltzer, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFPeperomia inaequalifolia, photograph Carrie Seltzer, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFPeperomia inaequalifolia, photograph Carrie Seltzer, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFPeperomia inaequalifolia, photograph Carrie Seltzer, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
16.5°C
Record low 14.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Feb, Mar and Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,352mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
33–42DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, December to May (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Peperomia inaequalifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Piperaceae. Its native range covers Colombia and Peru, where it grows in tropical and subtropical forests. The plant typically has thick, fleshy leaves and is often found growing as an epiphyte, clinging to trees in humid environments. Like other species in the genus, it is sometimes cultivated as a decorative houseplant due to its attractive foliage and ability to thrive in low-light conditions.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Peperomia inaequalifolia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Peperomia

Peperomia is one of the two large genera of the family Piperaceae. It is estimated that there are over 1,000 species, occurring in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world. They are concentrated in South and Central America, but may also be found in southern North America, the Caribbean islands, Africa, Oceania, and southern and eastern parts of Asia. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Peperomia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Peperomia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent epiphyte or lithophyte”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (872 mm of 1,161 mm) falls in December to May. The temperature curve is flat, 2.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,161 mm in the median year at the habitat, 872 mm of it December to May. Wettest month April at 178 mm, driest month August at 37 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 854 mm to 2,235 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,352 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,161 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 33 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 16.5 °C, the absolute minimum 14.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.9 °C in September (across the grid cells of the range 8.8 °C to 20.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.2 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 69 to 72% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +305 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Peperomia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent epiphyte or lithophyte”, “wet tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Peperomia inaequalifolia through the yearWarmest months February, March and April, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month September, mean nightly low 19.9 °C; 1,161 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.5°10°15°20°25°30°27.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER14.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 33–42RH 69–72%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 36 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C24 / 17–2625 / 17–2725 / 17–2825 / 17–2724 / 17–2723 / 16–2622 / 16–2521 / 17–2421 / 18–2421 / 17–2522 / 17–2523 / 17–26
Night °C21 / 10–2322 / 10–2423 / 10–2522 / 10–2422 / 10–2421 / 9–2321 / 8–2220 / 9–2120 / 9–2120 / 9–2120 / 9–2221 / 10–22
Rain mm163 / 70–298151 / 94–354176 / 106–277178 / 100–28787 / 51–21164 / 45–13150 / 33–11337 / 28–8845 / 24–12246 / 24–24047 / 33–224117 / 73–169
DLI37 / 30–3941 / 31–4242 / 30–4440 / 27–4137 / 26–3934 / 25–3633 / 27–3535 / 30–3738 / 31–4040 / 30–4139 / 28–4037 / 29–38
RH %72 / 65–7671 / 65–7470 / 65–7372 / 65–7571 / 64–7670 / 63–7569 / 61–7569 / 59–7570 / 60–7669 / 63–7470 / 64–7471 / 65–75
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 36 grid cells holding the 69 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1816:1779 (-0.825, -91.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 36 distinct grid cells holding 69 of the 69 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1816:1779 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.00_-91.250, lapse-corrected +305 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 364 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeColombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-0.666, -90.366 · in the densest population, 115 records (74% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent epiphyte or lithophyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 156 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 69 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 40 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 87 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 156 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Peperomia inaequalifolia, photograph 1did not loadPeperomia inaequalifolia, photograph 2did not loadPeperomia inaequalifolia, photograph 3did not loadPeperomia inaequalifolia, photograph 4did not loadPeperomia inaequalifolia, photograph 5did not loadPeperomia inaequalifolia, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Wes Gapp, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Zoltán Stekkelpak, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF; Carrie Seltzer, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Racinaea insularis Racinaea insularis Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Zihao WangGossypium darwinii Gossypium darwinii Darwin's Cotton Photo: CC0, author not statedAlternanthera filifolia Alternanthera filifolia Three-leafed chaff flower Photo: CC BY, Jacob SaucierVolkameria mollis Volkameria mollis Glorybower Photo: CC BY, Zihao WangOpuntia galapageia Opuntia galapageia Galápagos Prickly Pear Photo: CC BY, SlunkyScalesia affinis Scalesia affinis Radiate-headed scalesia Photo: CC BY-SA, Fabien Anthelme

Other Peperomia 83 in the reference

Peperomia albovittata Peperomia albovittata Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Sue CarnahanPeperomia angustata Peperomia angustata Piperaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Jalil R. Peperomia argyraea Watermelon Peperomia Peperomia arifolia Peperomia arifolia Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Jhonatan MatheusPeperomia asperula Peperomia asperula Piperaceae Photo: CC0, Principe Mendoza BabilonPeperomia berlandieri Peperomia berlandieri Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Cody HinchliffPeperomia bicolor Peperomia bicolor Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Tournasol7Peperomia blanda Peperomia blanda Arid-land peperomia Photo: CC BY, Joachim BlatchlyPeperomia boivinii Peperomia boivinii Piperaceae Photo: CC0, GemenaPeperomia bracteata Peperomia bracteata Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialPeperomia camptotricha Peperomia camptotricha Piperaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, James SteakleyPeperomia caperata Peperomia caperata Emerald-ripple pepper Photo: CC BY, CaracalShan all 84 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Peperomia atocongona; Peperomia chrysotricha; Peperomia flagelliformis; Peperomia galapagensis var. ramulosa; Peperomia limaensis and 7 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Peperomia congona; Peperomia galapagensis: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Piperaceae
Described by
Ruiz & Pav.
Native to
Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos +1
Wild records
156 in range · 40 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.00_-91.250, lapse-corrected +305 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 20 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…