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Peperomia polybotrya; photograph Mokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAMokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Peperomia polybotrya Kunth

Piperaceae · Colombia, Ecuador +1

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Peperomia polybotrya, photograph Mokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPeperomia polybotrya, photograph Mokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPeperomia polybotrya, photograph Yercaud-elango, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPeperomia polybotrya, photograph Yercaud-elango, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPeperomia polybotrya, photograph Yercaud-elango, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPeperomia polybotrya, photograph Yercaud-elango, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 9 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Coldest month, mean nightly low
16.9°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,882mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
30–38DLI
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, March to May and September to December (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.

From few records: 8 records in 8 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Peperomia polybotrya, commonly known as raindrop peperomia or raindrop plant, is a species of perennial plant in the genus Peperomia of the family Piperaceae. It is native to Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Peperomia polybotrya", 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

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,273 mm of 1,805 mm) falls in March to May and September to December. The temperature curve is flat, 0.6 °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, northern 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

1,805 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,273 mm of it March to May and September to December. Wettest month April at 222 mm, driest month July at 95 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,141 mm to 3,306 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,882 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,805 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 38 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 26, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 16.9 °C in July and August (across the grid cells of the range 11.4 °C to 19.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.2 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 16.9 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, July and August, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 66% 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. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

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

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 8 records in 8 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Peperomia polybotrya through the yearWarmest months February, March, April, May, June, July, August and September, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest months July and August, mean nightly low 16.9 °C; 1,805 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 30–38RH 63–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 8 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C24 / 19–2925 / 20–3025 / 20–2925 / 20–2925 / 19–2825 / 19–2825 / 18–2825 / 19–2925 / 20–3024 / 20–2924 / 20–2824 / 20–28
Night °C17 / 13–2117 / 13–2117 / 13–2118 / 13–2118 / 13–2117 / 12–2017 / 11–2017 / 11–2017 / 12–2017 / 12–2117 / 13–2117 / 13–21
Rain mm98 / 79–202107 / 83–234160 / 115–265222 / 136–337221 / 114–379130 / 60–37995 / 38–337102 / 37–267131 / 58–222191 / 134–292210 / 149–298138 / 114–228
DLI32 / 29–3534 / 31–3634 / 32–3632 / 30–3530 / 29–3331 / 27–3432 / 28–3636 / 33–3838 / 34–3934 / 28–3731 / 26–3331 / 27–33
RH %65 / 57–6864 / 57–6864 / 59–6965 / 60–7165 / 60–7064 / 58–6963 / 56–6763 / 55–6563 / 57–6764 / 60–7066 / 62–7166 / 60–70

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, -1015 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum 12.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.0 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 8 grid cells holding the 8 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 1713:2083 (4.325, -75.825). 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 8 distinct grid cells holding 8 of the 8 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1713:2083 (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 4.50_-75.625, lapse-corrected -1015 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1252 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, 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 marker4.929, -74.428 · in the densest population, 6 records (60% of those in range)
Kew's description“wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 10 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 8 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 9 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 31 km away. Under a dozen records behind the map and the climate. 2 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 10 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 polybotrya, photograph 1did not loadPeperomia polybotrya, photograph 2did not loadPeperomia polybotrya, photograph 3did not loadPeperomia polybotrya, photograph 4did not loadPeperomia polybotrya, photograph 5did not loadPeperomia polybotrya, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Mokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); Yercaud-elango, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (4).

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

Cattleya mendelii Cattleya mendelii Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel Mesa Citharexylum kunthianum Verbenaceae Urceolina bonplandii Amaryllidaceae Tillandsia mima Bromeliaceae Lycoseris mexicana Lycoseris mexicana Asteraceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPassiflora maliformis Passiflora maliformis Conch apple Photo: CC BY, Miguel José Lengua Hernández

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 Piper polybotrya; Piper polybotryon. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Piperaceae
Described by
Kunth
Native to
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
Wild records
10 in range · 9 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; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (4 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 4.50_-75.625, lapse-corrected -1015 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, -1015 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
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 nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons 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 4 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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