7 Types of Pilea, Compared: RHS Ratings and the One Everyone Mislabels
7 Pilea types compared side by side: RHS hardiness ratings, real care needs, and the popular houseplant cultivar almost every plant tag gets wrong.
If you’ve only ever met one Pilea, the round-leaved Chinese money plant that dominates every plant-shop shelf, the rest of the genus will surprise you. Pilea is one of the largest genera in the nettle family Urticaceae, with somewhere between 600 and 715 species [1], and the handful grown as houseplants range from a coin-shaped rosette to a metallic-silver shrub to a creeping mat that roots wherever it touches soil. Below are the seven varieties worth knowing, compared side by side on size, RHS hardiness rating, and what genuinely sets each one apart — including a cultivar mislabeled on plant tags everywhere and the real, peer-reviewed reason one Pilea’s leaves look dusted in metal. Already own one and just need care and propagation steps? Our full Pilea Growing Guide covers that in depth.
Pilea Varieties Compared
Every Pilea below needs frost-free, humid conditions — none tolerate a UK or northern-US winter outdoors — so the RHS hardiness rating mostly tells you how strict that indoor warmth requirement is, not whether the plant can go outside. The bigger practical split is growth habit: three varieties grow upright and clump, while the rest trail or creep and are built for hanging baskets rather than a windowsill pot.
| Variety | Mature size | RHS hardiness | Key feature | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilea peperomioides (Chinese Money Plant) | 8–12in tall & wide [2] | H1C — 5–10°C min [3] | Coin-shaped leaves; self-produces plantlets [2] | Beginners; windowsill statement plant |
| Pilea cadierei (Aluminum Plant) | 9–12in tall, 6–9in wide [4] | H1C [5] | Raised silver “air blister” patches, 4 rows per leaf [4] | Textural contrast; terrariums |
| Pilea involucrata (Friendship Plant) | 3in–1ft [6] | H1A — glasshouse year-round, >15°C [7] | Crinkled bronze-green leaves, red undersides [6] | High-humidity terrariums; sharing cuttings |
| Pilea involucrata ‘Moon Valley’ | 4–20in [8] | H1A [8] | Deeply puckered, cratered bronze-purple leaves [8] | Bottle gardens; textural statement piece |
| Pilea nummulariifolia (Creeping Pilea) | Trailing, 1–3ft runners [9] | Not RHS-rated; USDA 10a–11b [9] | Scalloped round leaves; roots at every node [9] | Hanging baskets; terrarium groundcover |
| Pilea microphylla (Artillery Plant) | 6–12in tall, spreads to 2ft [10] | Not RHS-rated; USDA 11a–12b [10] | Fern-like foliage; explosively ejects pollen [11] | Fast-filling texture in enclosed terrariums only |
| Pilea glauca (Silver Sparkle) | Trailing, compact | Not RHS-rated | Tiny blue-grey rounded leaves on red stems | Hanging baskets; mixed succulent bowls |
The Chinese Money Plant: Why It Makes Pups, and Why It’s Called a Missionary Plant
Pilea peperomioides is the variety most people mean when they just say “a Pilea”: round, coin-like leaves on long petioles, native to the shady, cool mountain forests of China’s Yunnan Province [2]. It carries the RHS Award of Garden Merit [3], and its habit of producing offsets, baby plantlets that emerge from underground rhizomes around the base of the mother plant, works more like a strawberry sending out runners than typical stem-cutting propagation [2][12]. Each pup can be cut free once its leaves reach roughly the size of a dime and rooted on its own — see our peperomioides-specific care guide and full propagation walkthrough for the exact cutting and rooting steps.
The plant’s European nickname, “missionary plant,” has a documented origin. Norwegian missionary Agnar Espegren carried cuttings home from Yunnan around 1946, and the plant spread hand-to-hand through Scandinavian windowsills for decades before Kew botanist Wessel Marais formally identified it in the 1980s [13]. That history is also why it’s sometimes called the “pass-along plant” — most early specimens in the West were shared between amateur gardeners, not sold in shops.
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The Aluminum Plant’s Silver Patches Aren’t Pigment — They’re Air
Pilea cadierei, native to China and Vietnam, is unmistakable: four rows of raised, metallic-silver patches run down each dark green leaf [4], giving rise to its other common name, watermelon pilea. Most plant-care sites describe this as pigmentation or “variegation,” but a peer-reviewed anatomical study in Annals of Botany found the silver effect isn’t color at all — it’s a physical, gas-filled cavity that forms between two epidermal layers after the connecting cells between them break down, with light bouncing off the resulting air pocket [14]. Phenolic compounds accumulate in the cell layer just beneath the blister and likely serve a defensive rather than decorative function [14].
Practically, that means the silver pattern is structural, not something you can intensify with fertilizer or brighter light the way you might deepen true pigment-based variegation. It also flattens and fades on older leaves as the blisters age [4], which is why growers chasing the crispest aluminum pattern take fresh stem cuttings every year or two instead of relying on an older plant’s new growth [4]. Give it bright, indirect light and high humidity; it shares the same H1C RHS hardiness rating as the money plant, so it still needs frost-free conditions year-round in the UK [5].
Friendship Plant and the “Moon Valley” Mislabel
Pilea involucrata, the friendship plant (also sold as panamiga), is native to Central and South American understory forest and stays compact — 3 inches to 1 foot tall and wide — with crinkled, velvety bronze-green leaves and dark red undersides [6]. It’s fussier about humidity than the money plant or aluminum plant: the RHS rates it H1A, meaning it needs glasshouse-level warmth above 15°C (59°F) year-round, stricter than the milder H1C that peperomioides and cadierei carry [7].
Its deeply puckered, cratered cultivar, “Moon Valley,” is where a lot of plant-shop tags get the botany wrong. It’s frequently sold and blogged about as Pilea mollis, but the RHS’s own plant record lists it as Pilea involucrata ‘Moon Valley,’ with “Pilea Moon Valley” recorded as a synonym, not a separate species [8]. The mix-up likely persists because Moon Valley looks dramatically different from the plain-leaved species it’s descended from — deeper veins, more pronounced puckering, a darker purple-bronze cast — but it shares involucrata’s H1A hardiness rating, humidity needs, and general care [8][7]. If a tag says “Pilea mollis,” the involucrata care instructions above are the reliable ones to follow.
Trailing Pileas for Hanging Baskets: Creeping Pilea and Silver Sparkle
Not every Pilea grows upright. Pilea nummulariifolia, the creeping pilea (also sold as creeping Charlie, unrelated to the Lamium and Plectranthus plants that share that nickname), is native to Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America, where it spreads as a rapid, mat-forming groundcover that roots at every node it touches [9]. Its round, scalloped leaves have sunken veins that give the surface a puffy, quilted texture [9]. It’s genuinely intolerant of drought — let the top inch of soil dry between waterings, but don’t push it further, since it’s just as prone to root rot from overwatering as it is to wilting from underwatering [9].
Pilea glauca, sold as Silver Sparkle Pilea, trails in a similar way but looks nothing like it: tiny, rounded blue-grey leaves on thin red stems, dense enough to read as almost mossy in a hanging basket. It’s commonly confused with the even smaller-leaved Pilea depressa (baby tears), which shares the same trailing habit and near-identical care — if a tag simply says “baby tears pilea” with no species name, treat glauca’s care as your default. Both root easily from stem-tip cuttings and want slightly more humidity than the upright varieties [15].
The Artillery Plant Fires Its Pollen, Not Just Its Seeds
Pilea microphylla earns its common name honestly. Its stamens spring open explosively at maturity, and University of Florida IFAS Extension research documents pollen being forcefully ejected from the flowers — the literal mechanism behind the “artillery” and “gunpowder plant” nicknames [11]. It’s a genuinely striking thing to witness up close: a light touch or a warm afternoon can trigger a visible burst of pollen.
That same reproductive vigor is why this is the one Pilea on this list worth a caution rather than an unqualified recommendation. UF/IFAS classifies Pilea microphylla as artillery weed in ornamental production, because it flowers nearly year-round, seeds prolifically, and regrows readily from root or stem fragments left behind during weeding [11]. Indoors in a pot, it’s a fast-filling, fern-textured houseplant with lime-green foliage, native from Mexico through South America, the southeastern U.S., and the Caribbean [10]. But grown in a mixed outdoor bed or an open greenhouse bench in a warm climate, expect volunteer seedlings to turn up in nearby pots — it self-sows aggressively wherever conditions allow [11]. For pest and disease issues across the whole genus, including this species, see our Pilea problems guide.
How to Choose the Right Pilea for Your Space
Match the growth habit to where the plant will actually live, not just which leaf pattern catches your eye first.
- A single statement plant on a windowsill or desk: Pilea peperomioides. It tolerates average home humidity better than the others and is the easiest to propagate for friends [15][2].
- Texture in a terrarium or bottle garden: Pilea cadierei or Pilea involucrata ‘Moon Valley.’ Both want the high humidity a closed or semi-closed terrarium provides, and both carry the stricter RHS hardiness ratings that reflect real fussiness about cold drafts [5][8].
- A hanging basket that fills in fast: Pilea nummulariifolia or Pilea glauca. Both root at nodes and trail readily, though nummulariifolia’s larger leaves read as bolder from a distance while glauca’s tiny blue-grey foliage reads as fine texture [9].
- Low-maintenance ground cover in a large planted terrarium: Pilea microphylla — but only in an enclosed or semi-enclosed setup where its prolific self-seeding stays contained [11].
Every variety above is documented as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses by NC State Extension, so the choice comes down to light, humidity, and growth habit, not pet safety [2][4][6][9][10].
Frequently Asked Questions
Are all Pilea varieties easy houseplants?
Most are. Pilea peperomioides, cadierei, and involucrata are low-to-moderate maintenance once given bright indirect light and consistently moist (not soggy) soil [15]. Involucrata and its Moon Valley cultivar are the fussiest of the common varieties, needing glasshouse-level humidity and warmth (RHS H1A) rather than the milder conditions the others tolerate [7].
Is Pilea toxic to cats or dogs?
No. Pilea peperomioides, involucrata, cadierei, nummulariifolia, and microphylla are all documented as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses by NC State Extension [2][6][4][9][10].
What’s the difference between Pilea and Peperomia?
They’re unrelated plants in different families. The confusion mostly traces back to Pilea peperomioides’ species name, which describes its Peperomia-like round leaves rather than any botanical relationship. See our full Pilea vs. Peperomia comparison for the identifying differences.
How many Pilea species exist, and how many are grown as houseplants?
The genus contains somewhere between 600 and 715 species [1], but fewer than a dozen are commonly sold as houseplants — the seven varieties compared above account for nearly all of them.
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- Wikipedia, citing Plants of the World Online (Kew Science). Pilea (genus)
- NC State Extension. Pilea peperomioides. Plant Toolbox
- Royal Horticultural Society. Pilea peperomioides
- NC State Extension. Pilea cadierei (Aluminum plant). Plant Toolbox
- Royal Horticultural Society. Pilea cadierei
- NC State Extension. Pilea involucrata (Friendship plant). Plant Toolbox
- Royal Horticultural Society. Pilea involucrata
- Royal Horticultural Society. Pilea involucrata ‘Moon Valley’
- NC State Extension. Pilea nummulariifolia (Creeping Charlie). Plant Toolbox
- NC State Extension. Pilea microphylla (Artillery weed). Plant Toolbox
- University of Florida IFAS Extension. Biology and Management of Pilea microphylla (Artillery Weed) in Ornamental Crop Production. EP535
- Royal Horticultural Society. How to Grow Pilea
- Wikipedia, citing Radcliffe-Smith, Kew Magazine (1984). Pilea peperomioides
- Annals of Botany. Development of Air Blisters in Pilea cadierei Gagnep. and Guillaumin
- Penn State Extension. Pilea as a Houseplant
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