Pepper elder
Peperomia pellucida (L.) Kunth
Pepper elder (Peperomia pellucida) is a small succulent weed of the pepper family found across the tropics; its glossy, translucent, heart-shaped leaves are eaten raw — crisp, faintly sour — in fresh salads or stir-fried with beef, and are used in folk medicine.
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Pepper elder — Dish (product)Pepper elder — Plant
Pepper elder — Leaves
Pepper elder — Flower spikes
Pepper elder — Fruit & seeds
Pepper elder — Succulent stem & rootsPepper elder — Dish (product)Pepper elder — PlantLife cycle
From seed to productPlant
Small succulent herb forming mats in moist shade.
Leaves
Heart-shaped fleshy, glossy, translucent leaves.
Flowers
Slender spikes of tiny petal-less flowers.
Fruit
Tiny berry-like fruits packed along the spike, one seed each.
Distribution & origin
Share of recorded occurrences by region- Tropical Central & South America (native)35%
- Southeast Asia (long naturalised, incl. Vietnam)30%
- South Asia — India & Sri Lanka15%
- Africa & Madagascar10%
- Caribbean, Hawaii & Oceania (naturalised)10%
Chemical composition
Relative content in agarwood resin- Water82%
- Fibre6%
- Essential oil & actives (dillapiole, apiol, phytol)4%
- Protein3%
- Sugars3%
- Minerals (Ca, K, Fe) & vitamins2%
Uses
- Cuisine: eaten raw with rice paper and fresh rolls, tossed into salads (pork-and-shrimp pepper elder salad) or stir-fried with beef — a beloved folk dish of southern Vietnam
- Folk medicine: crushed leaves applied to boils and swellings; infusion drunk for high blood pressure, joint pain and headache (Brazil, Philippines, India)
- Free foraged vegetable: a weed that thrives in gardens in the rainy season — a no-cost green, common in rural areas
- Pharmacognosy: essential oil with dillapiole, apiol and phytol — under study for antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity
Properties
- Form
- Small succulent annual herb
- Product
- Raw salad vegetable, stir-fry green; leaves for poultices
- Hallmark
- Translucent fleshy leaves; mustard-like smell when crushed
- Uses
- Food, folk remedy, antibacterial potential
Habitat & conservation
Pepper elder grows wild in moist, shaded places: gardens, vacant lots, field margins, ditch banks and under tree canopies, on humus-rich, well-drained soil. Native to tropical America, it now spans Southeast Asia (including Vietnam), South Asia, Africa, Madagascar, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Oceania. In Vietnam it is common in the south and centre, most abundant in the rainy season.
Conservation
Not individually assessed by IUCN, but exceedingly widespread as a pantropical weed with no known threats, regarded as Least Concern (LC). Pepper family (Piperaceae), genus Peperomia.
References
- 1Plants of the World Online — Peperomia pellucida (L.) Kunth — Kew Science, 2026
- 2Peperomia pellucida (Pepper elder) — description, distribution, uses — Wikipedia tiếng Anh, 2026
- 3Rau càng cua (Peperomia pellucida) — Wikipedia tiếng Việt — Wikipedia tiếng Việt, 2026
- 4草胡椒 Peperomia pellucida — 形态、分布与利用 — Wikipedia tiếng Trung, 2026
- 5Nguồn ảnh: Obsidian Soul, Undeka 11, FarEnd2018 (CC BY-SA 4.0); Binduprasad, Ngô Trung (CC BY-SA 3.0) — Wikimedia Commons,
- 6Nguồn ảnh: Alex Popovkin (CC BY 2.0) — cụm hoa; ảnh bìa: Obsidian Soul (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Wikimedia Commons,