MONSTERA EPIPREMNOIDES
PROTOLOGUE: Monstera epipremnoides Engl., published in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 37: 118 (1905). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: Costa Rica to Panama: Costa Rica, Panama.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Panama: Chiriquí.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Robust nomadic vine, appressed-climbing habit. Seedlings: bearing foliage leaves. Juvenile plants: root climbers; stems dark green, smooth, cylindrical, white-dotted; internodes 4–7 cm long, 5–10 mm diam.; petiole distinct, light green with white dots, smooth, 7–10 cm long, sheathed to base of the geniculum; petiole sheath persistent; blades ovate to lanceolate, obtuse or attenuate at base, acuminate, coriaceous, 13–17 × 4–9 cm, not appressed to the phorophyte; fenestrations absent or present, frequently arranged on one side of the blade when present. Adult plants: root climbers; stems beige to dark or light green, smooth, cylindrical; internodes 1–7 cm long, 1.5–4.0 cm diam., 0.6–1.7 times as long as wide; cataphylls greenish-white, deciduous; anchor roots dark brown; feeder roots beige; petiole light green, whitish or mottled, smooth, 30–50 cm long, sheathed to base of the geniculum; petiole sheath persistent and thick; geniculum smooth, flat adaxially, convex abaxially, white spotted, 3–5 cm long; blades ovate to elliptic or oblong, broadly rounded or truncate at base, short-acuminate at apex, coriaceous, drying light brown, dull beige or bright brown, 20–70 × 20–40 cm, 1.5–2.2 times longer than wide, slightly decurrent on the geniculum, decurrent portion 1–3 mm; midrib ribbed adaxially, convex abaxially, drying dark brown or matte-beige on both surfaces; primary lateral veins 9–20 per side, departing midrib at 80–90°, sunken above, prominent below, drying dark brown; collective veins not visible; fenestrations absent or present, on each side of the midrib when present; margins entire or deeply pinnatifid, with 3–15 lobes per side, each 1.8–9.0 cm wide, wider lobes fenestrated with up to 4 veins.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences on ascending and pendent stems, 1 or 2 simultaneously at flowering time, arranged in the leaf axils or into cataphylls; peduncle light green, 7–20 cm long; spathe acuminate, green during development, cream, yellowish green or white externally and white internally at anthesis, coriaceous, completely open at apex with the margins overlapping at base and revolute in the medial part, deciduous or marcescent after anthesis, 15–25 × 8–13 cm, up to 13 cm longer than the spadix; spadix white during development, cream-yellowish at anthesis, 10–15 cm long, 1.5–3.5 cm diam., 3.4–5.5 times longer than wide; basal sterile flowers 4–5 mm long, with a yellowish stigmatic secretion; fertile flowers 4–8 mm long; stamens 3–7 mm long, with laminar filaments; anthers 3–4 mm long; ovary rectangular in longitudinal section, ribbed, 5–6 × 2–3 mm; style compressed and hexagonal, 2–4 × 3–4 mm; stigmatophore conical, 0.5–1.0 mm long; stigma circular, with a yellowish stigmatic secretion; berries with a light-green stylar cap during development, mature stylar cap creamy-white; pulp white; seeds black, spherical, 4–6 mm long.⁴
ECOLOGY:
In Costa Rica it is known from both slopes of the Cordillera de Talamanca, occurring at 1200–2200 m, in Tropical wet forest and Premontane rain forest life zones. In Panama it is known from only the one collection from Chiriquí, growing at 1200–1400 in a Premontane rain forest life zone. Flowering in January, March-May and September. Fruiting in February-March, June, August-September and December.⁴
ETYMOLOGY:
The epithet refers to the similarity in appearance of the leaf to Epipremnum pinnatum (L.) Engl. of Malesia.⁶
NOTES:
1. This species is a member of sect. Monstera. It differs from the other species of the genus by the mottled or whitish petiole, the persistent petiolar sheath with open wings, pinnatifid leaf blades with fenestrations on each side next to the midrib, the green spathe yellowish externally and up to 13 cm longer than the spadix, and the circular stigma, slightly raised on a stigmatophore. It is similar to Monstera monteverdensis but differs in that the latter has green or mottled petioles with the sheath deciduous, leaves which are pinnatifid but without fenestrations on each side next to the midrib, spathes which are light green or yellowish externally. Specimens of Monstera oreophila which have their blade with the perforations broken through along the margins can be confused with specimens of Monstera epipremnoides but that species differs in having deciduous petiole sheaths and a pink spathe on the inside (Grayum, 2003; Cedeño-Fonseca et al. 2022). For more details about the taxonomic comments and nomenclatural note see Cedeño-Fonseca et al. (2022).⁴
2. Conservation status: Monstera epipremnoides is protected in the Zona Protectora Cerros de Escazú, Zona Protectora Cerros de Turrubares, and Parque Nacional Chirripó.⁵
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Monstera epipremnoides Engl.
2. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 37: 118 (1905) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Monstera epipremnoides
Additional photos by David Scherberich
Additional photos from iNaturalist by Jake Rehage, Dayron and susanabonillamora