Peperomia pampalcana
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| Peperomia pampalcana | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Magnoliids |
| Order: | Piperales |
| Family: | Piperaceae |
| Genus: | Peperomia |
| Species: | P. pampalcana |
| Binomial name | |
| Peperomia pampalcana | |
Peperomia pampalcana is a species of terrestrial or epiphytic herb in the genus Peperomia that is native to Peru.[1][2] It grows on wet tropical biomes.[1] Its conservation status has been evaluated as threatened.[3]
The type specimen were collected at Pampalca, Peru at an altitude of 3200 meters above sea level.[4]
Peperomia pampalcana is a tall, forked or divaricately branched, succulent herb with a stem 3–5 mm thick, sparsely covered in stiff villous hairs. The leaves are opposite or rarely in whorls of 3. They are elliptic to round-ovate, bluntly short-acuminate, with a rounded to somewhat acute base, measuring about 4 cm long and 3.5 cm wide. Upper leaves are smaller (1.5 cm long, 1 cm wide), and on the ultimate flowering branchlets, they are reduced to 8 mm long and 5 mm wide. The leaves are 3-nerved (or 5-nerved on longer ones), firm when dry, brown above, yellowish beneath, and loosely villous. The petiole is about 1 cm long, much shorter on reduced leaves. The spikes are solitary in the axils of reduced leaves and also terminal on short branchlets, appearing somewhat paniculate. They are 40–60 mm long and 3 mm thick, with a sparsely pilose peduncle 10–15 mm long. The berries are ovoid, pointed, and bear a pseudocupula, with an apical stigma.[4]
Taxonomy and naming
It was described in 1936 by William Trelease in Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History, Botanical Series 13, from specimens collected by Ellsworth Paine Killip & Albert Charles Smith.[5]
The epithet pampalcana is derived from the type locality.[4]