MONSTERA CORANA

PROTOLOGUE: Monstera corana M.Cedeño & O.Ortiz, published in PhytoKeys 267: 111 (2025).

Monstera corana M.Cedeño & O.Ortiz, sp. nov. Type: Panama • Provincia Bocas del Toro: distrito Chiriquí Grande, corregimiento Chiriquí Grande, áreas abiertas alrededor de la carretera principal, 17 November 2022, 85 m elev., M. Cedeño, O. Ortiz, N. Köster, A. Hay & R. da pena 2730 (holotype PMA!; isotype B!).

DISTRIBUTION: Panama.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Panama: Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Robust appressed-climbing nomadic vine. Seedlings: unknown. Juvenile plants: unknown. Adult plants: root climbers; stem cylindrical, minutely white-green warty, looking like a pulverulent indument; internodes 0.5–7 cm long, 4–7 cm diam.; anchor roots blackish; feeder roots blackish; peti ole 50–75 cm long, green, minutely white punctulate especially towards the base, minutely white-green warty the rest of its length (like the stem), sheathed along its entire length; petiole sheath thin, persistent and undulate from the middle of the petiole to the geniculum, deciduous from middle to the base; geniculum mi nutely white-green warty throughout, flattened adaxially and transversally convex abaxially, 5.0–7.5 cm long; blades 50–80 × 40–55 cm, narrowly ovate, rounded or asymmetric at base, shortly acuminate at the apex, membranaceous, decurrent on the geniculum and almost connecting with petiole sheath; mid-rib white, con cave adaxially, square abaxially; primary lateral veins 20–35 per side, impressed adaxially, prominent abaxially the base of each vein abruptly prominent, connect ed to each other at the union with the main vein, thick and white up to half their length, diverging at 80–90° and often with one or two subsidiary (branching) veins starting from the base or close to the base, on either side of the primary lateral vein, running near the primary vein and then separate until they reach the margin; secondary veins parallel to the primary lateral veins; collective vein poorly visible; fenestrations scarce, near the mid-rib, when present in two rows along the mid-rib, comprising small oblong holes 0.5–4 cm long, often scattered towards the margin; margins entire.²

INFLORESCENCE:

Inflorescences solitary, produced on ascending stems; peduncle 25 cm long, minutely white-green verrucose; spathe unknown; spadix 22 cm long, 5 cm diam.; basal sterile flowers 3–4 mm long; fertile flowers 5–7 mm long; stamens unknown; anthers unknown; ovary quadrangular in longi tudinal section, 2–3 mm long, style truncate; stigma linear; berries with the stylar cap after anthesis white, white-cream when ripe; pulp white; seeds unknown.²

ECOLOGY:

Monstera corana is endemic to Panama, known only from the type locality (Chiriquí Grande, Bocas del Toro Provinces) at 85 m elevation in a Tropical rain forest life zone. Flowering unknown; mature fruits in November.²

ETYMOLOGY:

The epithet "corana" refers to Cora Jane, the daughter of Dr. Sarah Spaulding, who has been a supporter of several projects on aroid conservation in Costa Rica.²

NOTES:

1. Monstera corana differs from Monstera buseyi Croat & Grayum by having white, connected and consistently branched primary lateral veins (vs. weakly connected to each other at the base and sometimes weakly branching), 20–35 lateral veins per side (vs. 35–65 per side), blades decurrent at the geniculum (vs. broadly cuneate to truncate at base) and a thin, distally undulate petiole sheath (vs. petiole sheath never undulate).²

STORY:

STORY TITLE: A giant from the roadside

Monstera corana was described in 2025 from open ground along the main road at Chiriquí Grande in Bocas del Toro, at 85 m, one of two pachycaul giants published together from Panama.² Its petioles reach 75 cm and its stem, 4 to 7 cm thick, is covered in minute white-green warts that look like a powdery coating.² It differs from Monstera buseyi in white, connected and consistently branched primary veins, fewer of them per side, and blades that run down onto the geniculum.²

The epithet honors Cora Jane, the daughter of Dr. Sarah Spaulding, a supporter of several aroid conservation projects in Costa Rica.² Seedlings and juveniles are unknown, flowering has not been seen, and ripe fruit was collected in November.²

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Monstera corana M.Cedeño & O.Ortiz

2. PhytoKeys 267: 111 (2025) — protologue.