MONSTERA GRACILIS
PROTOLOGUE: Monstera gracilis Engl., published in Monographiae Phanerogamarum 2: 258 (1879). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: S. Venezuela to N. Peru: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: iNaturalist: Meta.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Slender root-climbing epiphyte, 2–3 m tall. Juvenile: terrestrial creeper, the leaves exserted and erect, the lamina ovate, acute at the apex, membranaceous, perforate even among the earliest leaves. Adult stem: subterete, smooth, green, 0.5–1.0 cm thick, the internodes 1–3 cm long. Petiole: 18–35 cm long, slightly shorter than the lamina, vaginate to the base of the geniculum, the sheath wings deciduous, the geniculum 1.0–2.5 cm long. Lamina: ovate, 20–30 cm wide, 25–38 cm long, membranaceous, truncate to broadly acute at the base, the apex acute; perforate and pinnatifid or pinnatifid only, the perforations small and near the midrib, the pinnae irregularly shaped, 4–10 per side in number, mostly long acuminate at the apex; primary lateral veins 1–2 per pinna, 8–12 in number per side, arising at an angle of 70–90° with the midrib, secondary lateral veins parallel to the primary.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Peduncle: slender, 5–8 mm thick, 8–15 cm long, to 18 cm long in fruit. Spathe: cream to pale yellow, 5–8 cm tall. Flowering spadix: pale yellow, 4–6 cm long, 1.0–1.2 cm thick, the pistils truncate, the upper portion of the pistil containing numerous trichosclereids. Fruiting spadix: green, becoming yellow at maturity, 6–8 cm long, 1.5–2.0 cm thick, the berries prismatic.⁴
ETYMOLOGY:
Latin gracilis, "thin" or "slender," in reference to the diminutive stature of the plant and its parts.⁴
STORY:
STORY TITLE: Known from a description, because the type was destroyed
The type of Monstera gracilis, collected by Karsten in the llanos near Villavicencio, was destroyed at Vienna, and the 1879 description now serves as the type.⁴ The species is rare and confined to a small area of eastern Colombia, and only a handful of collections exist.⁴
The one population seen by the author of the 1977 revision consisted of half a dozen plants in riparian forest in the llanos. None climbed above 2 m before the terminal shoot turned into a stolon and returned to the ground, so this is apparently not a high climber, though no other collection says anything on the point.⁴ The juvenile is a terrestrial creeper with exserted, erect, membranous leaves that are perforate even among the earliest.⁴ The yellow berries are prismatic and armed with trichosclereids above, where Monstera obliqua, which some larger perforated forms resemble, has soft orange globose berries.⁴
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Monstera gracilis Engl.
2. Monographiae Phanerogamarum 2: 258 (1879) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Monstera gracilis
Additional photos from iNaturalist by gabrielreis_, Wagner Nogueira, DAVILA REYES DANIEL, Juan Andrés leyva, Diego Cueva, Patricia Navarro, silland_p, Ana Maria Benavides, Gabriela, Mateus Dourado vieira, Nils Servientis - Bivouac Naturaliste, Olivier Tostain, Tomaz Nascimento de Melo, adrianomaciel and Juan David Lozano Cifuentes