Baby rubber plant vs String of turtles

Peperomia obtusifolia · Peperomia prostrata

Difficulty: Baby rubber plant scores 1 of 5, String of turtles scores 3.

Why these two get mixed up

Both are Peperomia, so they arrive on the same shelf under near-identical labels and are routinely swapped in the trade.

Baby rubber plant (Peperomia obtusifolia) — **Baby rubber plant** — Peperomia obtusifolia. Photograph by Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons , CC BY-SA 3.0.

String of turtles (Peperomia prostrata) — **String of turtles** — Peperomia prostrata. Photograph by Jerzy Opioła, Wikimedia Commons , CC BY-SA 4.0.

	Baby rubber plant	String of turtles
Scientific name	Peperomia obtusifolia	Peperomia prostrata
Family	Piperaceae	Piperaceae
Light floor	Medium	Medium
Water	9–14 days	9–16 days
Humidity floor	40%	45%
Mature height	8–12 in	4–24 in
Habit	upright	trailing
Growth rate	slow	slow
Difficulty	Easy	Moderate
Toxic to pets	No	No
Typical price	$12–30	$12–40

Highlighted cells are where the two actually differ. Everything else they share.

The differences that matter

Difficulty

Baby rubber plant scores 1 of 5, String of turtles scores 3. it looks like a succulent and is not one — it is a thin-rooted tropical that rots if treated like a string of pearls, and crisps if treated like a fern. The middle is narrow.

Habit

Baby rubber plant grows upright; String of turtles grows trailing. That decides where each one physically works.

Which should you buy?

In a dim room, take either — both have a medium light floor.
If you forget to water, take String of turtles, which goes 12 days between drinks.
If it is your first plant, take Baby rubber plant, at 1 of 5.
For a small shelf, take Baby rubber plant, which stops around 12 inches.

Full entries

Baby rubber plant — care fields with sources, toxicity with every authority consulted, propagation and diagnosis. String of turtles — the same.

Sources

This database's own care records for Peperomia obtusifolia and Peperomia prostrata — every figure compared above.
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Plants of the World Online — accepted names and families for Peperomia obtusifolia and Peperomia prostrata
ASPCA Animal Poison Control — toxicity classification for both, cited on each species entry
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, individually credited and licensed above

Compiled and edited by Tony Valcarcel · 2026-09-12
Every comparison above is drawn from a recorded field. Where the honest distinguisher is visual we show both photographs rather than describing a leaf we have no field for. How this is sourced.