The Peperomia collection now includes some 1000 specimens of approximately 350 species, and is still increasing. It is together with the Peperomia collection of our German cooperation partners in the Botanical Garden of the Technical University Dresden the largest and most representative ex-situ living collection of Peperomia in the world.   The specimens of our collection are distributed among several greenhouses according to their temperature and humidity preferences. The majority of the species is housed in one greenhouse where they are organised according to their phylogenetic relationships and collection origin. All Andean succulent species and the geophytic species are in the neighbouring greenhouse  with lower temperature and humidity. The species from Madagascar and some epiphytes growing on bark need the high humidity in the tree fern house. The collection is not open to the public except for some Andean species in the succulent greenhouse. Nevertheless, it is possible to visit the collection behind the scenes upond demand. The collection is invaluable for our research. From a molecular point of view, DNA-isolation from succulent leaves is only possible from living plants because the DNA deteriorates very fast during the drying process of the plant. Moreover, fast growth of fungi contaminates the DNA finally. From a morphological point of view are many characters lost during drying: e.g. leaf succulence, fruit morphology. Because of the succulent nature of many Peperomia species, many specimens are badly dried and worthless for thorough morphological research. Until now, two expeditions have been entirely dedicated to the genus Peperomia: one to Madagascar in 2001 and one to Ecuador in 2004. Both expeditions yielded several species new to science. More expeditions to Central and South America are planned in the next few years.