Terrestrial Peperomia

blanda: mild, pleasing, charming (Latin); leptostachya: with slender spikes (Greek).

Erect perennial epiphytic or lithophytic herb. Stems sometimes decumbent, up to 50 cm long, rooting at the lower nodes, more or less pubescent. Leaves opposite, sometimes alternate near the base or whorled below the inflorescence, broadly elliptic, ovate or obovate-oblong, up to 5 mm long, fleshy when fresh, more or less pubescent on both surfaces; margin entire but ciliate; petiole 5-15 mm long, pubescent. Inflorescence in terminal or lateral 2-5-clustered spikes, greenish, 4-10 cm long. Fruit globose-ovoid, 0.7-0.9 mm long, covered in sticky papillae.

Widespread From DRC and East Africa to KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Also in Madagascar, Mascarene Islands, Yemen, Tropical Asia, Taiwan, Micronesia, Polynesia, Australia and from Florida, USA to South America.