Cypress peperomia

Peperomia glabella, the cypress peperomia or wax privet, is a perennial epiphytic or epilithic herb in the Piperaceae family, native to the Neotropics from southern Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America, where it grows on tree trunks, mossy rocks and decaying logs in humid lowland to montane forests. The plant produces slender, fleshy, often pendulous or trailing stems 20 to 60 centimetres long that root at the lower nodes; stems are glabrous, greenish to reddish, and bear evenly spaced leaves. The alternate, simple leaves are short-petiolate, elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 2 to 5 centimetres long, smooth, glossy and somewhat succulent, with entire margins and an acute to acuminate apex. Inflorescences are slender axillary or terminal spikes 3 to 10 centimetres long, densely covered with minute, greenish, perfect flowers lacking petals; each flower bears two stamens and a single ovary. The fruit is a tiny, dark, dotted, sticky drupelet that adheres to bark, animals or passing fauna for dispersal. Three intraspecific varieties are recognised: var. glabella, var. nudipetiolata and var. obtusa.