Peperomia angustata, common over much of its distribution area, is a perennial plant species which is herbaceous with succulent leaves, and which climbs in trees or trails on the ground. Here are other notable features:
Branching stems reach about 30cm (12in) long and tend to be 6-angled. Leaves arise in groups of 3-6 with petioles up to 70mm (3in) long and blades generally rhombic in shape up to 5cm (2in) long and about half as wide. Blades have 3-5 nerves radiating from the base.
Inflorescences are single spikes at branch tips, with peduncles up to 3cm (1in) long and the flowering part up to 30cm (12in) long, but only up to about 2mm (1⁄8in) wide. The flowering part is covered with tiny scale-like bracts, each associated with a flower.
As in all species of the family, the flowers are very small and much simplified, with no sepals and no corolla, but with two stamens and an ovary.
Egg-shaped, one-seeded, drupe-type fruits commonly known a peppercorns are up to 1.4mm (1⁄16in) high and a little less wide, thus too small to grind as a spice. When mature they are dark brown to black.
Distribution
Peperomia angustata is native to Mexico, Central America and South America south to Peru and northern Brazil. Older records also may place it in Cuba.
In the Mexican state of Veracruz, Peperomia angustata is used to treat rheumatism and earache. Among the Mayan people of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, in the Otoch Ma´ax yetel Kooh preserved area, Peperomia angustata is employed to treat snakebite and bites and stings of other venomous animals, such as scorpions and spiders.
Taxonomy
Peperomia angustata is one of many species first scientifically collected by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland during their American Expedition of 1799–1804, and who later, in 1816, with the help of Carl Sigismund Kunth, formally published the taxon name and description. The type specimen had been collected at the explorers' first base of operations, in the environs of Cumaná, Venezuela, which they visited in 1799 and 1800.
Etymology
The genus name Peperomia is New Latin from the Greek peperi meaning "pepper", and homoios meaning "like, similar." This alludes to species of Peperomia being similar to species of the pepper genus Piper.
The species name angustata is a conjugated form from the Latin angusto meaning "narrowed." When Kunth formally described the species in Latin, he remarked that the leaves had narrow bases, "... basi angustatis."
References
12"Peperomia angustata Kunth". Plants of the World Online. United Kingdom: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved May 19, 2026.
12Samain, Marie-Stéphanie; Tebbs, Margaret Cecilia (2020). "Piperaceae"(PDF). Flora del Bajío y de Regiones Adyacentes (in Spanish). 215. Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, México: Instituto de Ecología, A.C. (INECOL): 4–6. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
↑"Taxón: Peperomia angustata Kunth". Flora de La Península de Yucatán (in Spanish). Mérida, Yucatán, México: Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, A.C. Retrieved May 19, 2026.
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