Peperomia (Piperaceae) in the Eastern Metropolitan of the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Peperomia is the second largest genus of Piperaceae with 1,600 to 1,700 species in the world. In Brazil, there are 173 species distributed throughout the territory of which 108 are endemic. The Metropolitan East of the state of Rio de Janeiro is formed by the municipalities of Itaboraí, Maricá, Niterói, Rio Bonito, São Gonçalo and Tanguá. The objective of the study was to inventory and morphologically characterize the Peperomia species occurring in this region. It’s been carried out 35 field trips were carried out to collect botanical material, as well as to consult the Rio Herbariums, and to the SpeciesLink virtual database. Fifteen species were recorded, with a prominence for P. rotundifolia not yet registered in the collections for the Metropolitan East of Rio de Janeiro, being recorded here for the first time in the region.