Peperomia glabella (Sw.) A.Dietr.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Piperaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Epiphytic herb, to 25 cm long, climbing, creeping, or sometimes hanging, rooting at nodes. Leaves alternate; blades 2-6.5 x 0.7-4 cm, ovate-lanceolate to ovate, glabrous, 3-nerved and occasionally with 2 accessory nerves, black-dotted, the apex acute or acuminate and occasionally ciliate, the base cuneate, the margins entire and ciliate; petioles 0.2-1.3 cm long, with 2 ciliate ridges decurrent on stem. Flowers in terminal filiform spikes, often clustered at stem apex or solitary in the leaf axils, densely flowered, 5-16 cm long; anthers 0.1-0.2 mm long, often broader than long; pistil borne in a depression on the rachis. Drupe ovoid, 0.3-1.0 mm long, slightly curved upward and attached laterally to the base, the apex oblique.
Distribution and Ecology - An occasional herb of moist shaded areas, very often in forest understory. Bordeaux (A4266, B576, W762). Also on St. Thomas and Tortola; throughout tropical America.