Native to Meixco and northern South America, Peperomia obtusifolia is apparently quite the master of disguise and goes by two main aliases. First, is pepper-face, so called because it allegedly looks like the black pepper plant, Piper nigrum.


They are both green and have kind of pointy leaves, so there’s that I guess.
Its other alias is baby rubber plant, this is because it allegedly looks like a smaller version of a Ficus elastica.


Again, they are both green, but I think it’s the thickness of the leaves where the comparison is being drawn. If I could invent a way for you to touch both kinds of leaves via Substack, I totally would. Unfortunately, I am not that kind of genius.
Obtusifolia means blunt-leaved and although the plant is occasionally called the blunt-leaved peperomia, it is more often known as a baby rubber plant, which is just rude. It is a gorgeous and useful plant in its own right. In Spanish the plant is often called paragua, or umbrella, which gets my vote for common name, although, I’ve seen plants that look much more like umbrellas than this one.
Podophyllum peltatum, for example:
Or Astilboides tabularis:
Or Ficus umbellata:
I tend to call plants by their scientific names, it avoids a lot of confusion. Or, I give them proper names. My two Peperomia obtusifolias are called David and Alexis, but they can’t have their pictures taken right now because, ironically, they’re both rehabbing. (If you know, you know.) I had them at work and a coworker thought I wasn’t watering them often enough, so she started watering them, too. Fam, no peperomia needs a lot of water, they have fleshy, succulent leaves and do much better with drier soil. They’ll be ok, just need a little TLC. Anyway, here are some stunt doubles:


In South American communities Peperomia obtusifolia is used to treat insect and snake bites and is also used as a skin cleanser. Research from the NIH concludes that compounds in the leaves of P. obtusifolia have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Additionally, they have trypanocidal properties. This was a new one for me, but it refers to the plant’s ability to kill parasites in the trypanosoma family, like Trypanosoma brucei which is frequently spread by the tsetse fly. The parasite causes African trypanosomiasis, aka sleeping sickness. Initial symptoms include fever, skin lesions, rash, swelling, and swollen lymph nodes. In its second stage, the infection enters the brain and can cause personality change, confusion, sleeping during the day, and insomnia at night, seizures, trouble walking, slurred speech, and can lead to death if untreated.
In the plant’s native habitat, the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite is spread by the triatomine bug, orally in food, in blood, or congenitally. T. Cruz causes Chagas disease. The parasite lives in the triatomine bug’s feces and urine and is spread when the insect either urinates or defecates on something a person puts in their mouth, or when someone is bitten and, during the act of scratching the bite, spreads the urine or feces into the open wound. While African trypanosomiasis can cause death in months, Chagas disease takes decades to be fatal. The initial stage of the disease lasts two months and victims can be asymptomatic, or have mild symptoms, like fever, fatigue, headache, and muscle, abdominal, or chest pain.
In the chronic phase of the disease, the parasite lives in the heart and digestive muscles. Anywhere from one to three decades after the initial bite, the infection begins to cause cardiac, digestive, or neurological disorders. These disorders can eventually lead to deterioration of the nervous system and heart failure.
(This is the part where we remind you to see your doctor if you think you or someone you love is infected by a deadly parasite. Leave the peperomia on your windowsill where it belongs.)
That was quite the parasite rabbit hole. Shall we continue?
This really cool paper in the Sage Journal details an ethnographic study in Oaxaca, Mexico on cultural uses of plants. Peperomia obtusifolia is used to cure ailments like evil wind and evil eye that can cause headaches, stomach pains, chest tightness, watery eyes, and anxiety. It can also be used to cure panic attacks. Additionally, it is combined with mosses and placed on alters during and after religious celebrations, which I bet looks absolutely lovely.
So that’s the research, now I’ll turn it into a plant-based horror story! Keep an eye out, short stories drop on the first of every month!