Species · genus Peperomia · Piperaceae

Man To Man

Peperomia pellucida (L.) Kunth

Also known as: Pepper Elder · Icing Grass · Water Grass · Clearweed · Shining Bush Plant

Growth habit

annual or lithophyte

Native range

Angola, Argentina Northwest, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, DR Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Florida, French Guiana, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Leeward Is., Liberia, Louisiana, Madagascar, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mozambique, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Southwest Caribbean, Sudan-South Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad-Tobago, Uganda, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Zambia

Peperomia pellucida — reference photo — Obsidian Soul · CC0

Cultivars of P. pellucida

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under P. pellucida yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

A Widespread Little Piperaceae

Peperomia pellucida is a small annual member of the pepper family, Piperaceae, grown more for curiosity and use than for ornament. It carries simple, somewhat succulent leaves and tiny greenish-white flowers arranged in slender spikes, traits typical of the wider Peperomia genus.

Source: RHS

Pantropical Wanderer

This species is native to tropical and subtropical America, tropical Africa, and Madagascar, and it has since been introduced well beyond that range, turning up from India and China to Hawaii and Australia. It grows as an annual or lithophyte, favouring the wet tropical biome. People have long put it to use as a medicine, a food, and for various social and environmental purposes.

Source: Kew

Leaves, Habit, and Kin

As a Peperomia, it is evergreen where conditions allow and carries simple, often succulent leaves, with very small greenish-white flowers held in slender spikes or panicles. Within the species, botanists recognise two accepted varieties, including the widespread variety pellucida itself, which shares the same tropical wet-biome habit and lithophyte tendency.

Source: Kew

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 4-8d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 8 days

Humidity

High

Temperature

18–28 °C

Soil mix

Moist, loose organic mix that drains freely

Propagation

Self-seeds readily; also stem cuttings in moist mix

Fertilizing

Light feed occasionally; often thrives with minimal feeding

Growth rate

Fast

Flowering

Frequent tiny greenish flower spikes; short-lived annual herb

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Non-toxic to cats & dogs

Peperomia (Piperaceae) — ASPCA lists multiple Peperomia non-toxic (e.g. watermelon peperomia, P. argyreia); genus-wide safe. This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 4-8d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ASPCA

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Man To Man yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — and a clear photo of your plant are exactly what keep this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.