Peperomia cacaophila Trel. & Yunck., Piperac. N. South Amer. 2(610). 1950.

Pino Infante, Guillermo Eloy, Samain, Marie-Stephanie, Alban Castillo, Joaquina Adelaida & Alomia Collazos, Luis Enrique Aaron, 2023, Species of Peperomia (Piperaceae) from the Sana River Valley, Peru, PhytoKeys 225, pp. 1-40 : 1

1. Peperomia cacaophila Trel. & Yunck., Piperac. N. South Amer. 2(610). 1950.

Fig. 3A-F

Type.

Ecuador, prov. Los Ríos, cant. Quevedo, roadside at Quevedo, common at Cacao groves, Haught 2966 (holotype: US 1707621!, isotype: ILL) .

Distribution and habitat.

Plants were known only from central Ecuador, prov. Los Ríos, Guayas, Esmeralda, and Pichincha, epiphyte on Theobroma or similar trees, in shaded warm forests from 200-1500 m. This is the first report for Peru.

Notes.

The closest species we could compare to is P. topoensis Yunck., also from Ecuador, which is similar in its epiphytic, pendent, or assurgent habit with small, succulent, alternate ovate leaves, cordulate at the base and 7-plinerved, compared to the obtuse, subtruncate based and noticeable 3-nerved leaves of P. cacaophila . Peperomia nitida Dahlst. from Brazil, São Paulo (Campinas), a widely cultivated species, is similar but with larger, light green cordulate-based leaves, only stems slightly reddish. Peperomia portobellensis Beurl. from Panama is also similar in shape but with slightly larger leaves. No material other than the types of these species was available for further comparison.

This species belongs to Peperomia subg. Micropiper (Miq.) Miq. ( Frenzke et al. 2015).

Specimens examined.

Peru, dept. Cajamarca, prov. Santa Cruz, dist. Catache: Road to Hacienda Taulis , ca. 60 km east of Cayaltí on the Rio Sana . 560 m, [06°50'41.5"S, 79°10'14.2"W], 28 Aug 1964, P. C. Hutchison 6323 (UC, US, F 1642092, USM 16451 ); Road from El Espinal to La Florida, 550 m, 06°51'23.0"S, 79°09'31.0"W, Jul 26 2020, G. Pino & L.E. Alomía 3234 (USM); Same road, 527 m, 06°51'16"S, 79°09'44"W, 28 Aug 2022, G. Pino et al. 3625 (USM 330878); idem, 536 m, 06°51'18.6"S, 79°09'41.6"W, 28 Aug 2022, G. Pino et al. 3630 (USM 330879) .

Figures

Figure 3. Peperomia cacaophila Trel. & Yunck A young plant hanging from a rock B long, trailing plant with distal inflorescence C plant ex-situ with several branches D detail of the leaves E spadix at the beginning of anthesis F mature spadix.