Peperomia

Peperomia urvilleana

This herb grows on rocks in the northeastern forest on Puangiangi. It is in the Piperaceae family which contains the culinary peppers, and prefers warmer parts of the country, being found as far south as the Heaphy. I always get a surprise when I see it somewhere on the mainland, but it’s not regarded as threatened.

(What is this about? I’d like to get photos of all the trees, shrubs, climbers, ferns on the island and publish the photos on the website. Each species will get a page when I get enough reasonable photos.)