Missionary plant

Pilea peperomioides.
I love this houseplant, because of its story.

In the 70's, people kept bringing specimens into the Botanic Gardens here in Edinburgh and in Kew, and no-one could identify it (it's quite reluctant to flower).
Eventually, the mystery was solved.

It turns out that the plant was first collected in 1906, by planthunter George Forrest, in China, then quietly forgotten about. The type specimen is in Edinburgh Botanics.

Just after the war, a Norwegian missionary was fleeing the Revolution in China, and brought a plant back to Norway; it was then passed from windowsill to kitchen windowsill, slowly spreading through Europe, with the botanists blissfully unaware. It came to the UK when a nine-year-old girl was given a plant when on holiday in Norway!
Hooray for swapping plants between friends!
Full story HERE