MONSTERA JULIUSII
PROTOLOGUE: Monstera juliusii M.Cedeño & Croat, published in Phytotaxa 461: 186 (2020).
Monstera juliusii M.Cedeño & Croat, sp. nov. Type: COSTA RICA. Puntarenas: Buenos Aires, Biolley, Parque Internacional de La Amistad, Cerro Frantzius, 9°03’01’’ N, 82°59’16’’ W, 2000 m, 5 February 2018, M. Cedeño I. Chinchilla, J. Jiménez & J. Porras 1220 (holotype USJ!, isotype MO! [to be distributed]).
DISTRIBUTION: E. Costa Rica to W. Panama: Costa Rica, Panama.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Costa Rica: Puntarenas Panama: Chiriquí.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Robust nomadic vine, appressed-climbing. Seedlings: bearing foliage leaves. Juvenile plants: root climbers; stem smooth, dark green with white spots; internodes 4–7 cm long, 4–6 mm diam.; petioles conspicuous, dark green with white spots, smooth, 7–12 cm long, sheathed throughout, sheath margins convolute, persisting; blades ovate; without fenestrations, acuminate at apex, subcordate to truncate at base, coriaceous, 9–15 × 7–10 cm, not flattened against the phorophyte. Adult plants: root climbers; stem dark, opaque beige, smooth, terete; internodes 1–3 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm diam., 0.6–1.2 times as long as wide; support roots light brown, 2–4 cm long, feeder roots dark brown; petioles whitish green or with minute white spots, smooth, 25–60 cm long, sheathed to within 2 cm before or up to base of the geniculum; petiole sheath thick and persistent; geniculum smooth, 5–10 mm long; blade lanceolate to ovate in outline, entire or partially pinnatilobed, narrowly rounded, shortly acuminate at apex, subcordate to obtuse at base, decurrent onto the geniculum, the decurrent portion 1–2 mm wide, coriaceous, 25–60 × 15–30 cm; midrib grooved adaxially, transversally convex abaxially; primary lateral veins 13–17 per side, moderately sunken above, prominently raised below; collective veins not visible; fenestrations rounded near the midrib, oval toward the margin; margin sometimes breaking.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences on ascending stems; peduncle smooth, 15–23 cm long; spathe acuminate, light green in developing inflorescences, greenish-yellow externally and white internally at anthesis, thick, completely open at the apex, the margins slightly overlapping at base, deciduous after anthesis, 15–30 × 7–11 cm, up to 15 cm longer than the spadix; spadix white in developing inflorescences, yellowish cream at anthesis, 8–14 cm long, 1.5–3.0 cm diameter; basal sterile flowers 4–5 mm long with a transparent secretion; fertile flowers 5–7 mm long; stamens 2–6 mm long, with filament laminar; anther 2–3 mm long; ovary rectangular in longitudinal section, ridged, 4–5 × 2–3 mm; style hexagonal, 2–3 × 3–4 mm; stigmatophore cupular, 0.5–1.0 mm long, stigma linear, with yellowish discharge; berries with the stylar layer white-cream at maturity; pulp white; seeds smooth, green or light brown, sub-elliptical, 5–7 mm long.⁴
ECOLOGY:
Monstera juliusii ranges from eastern Costa Rica to western Panama in the Cordillera de Talamanca in Puntarenas Province, and in western Panama in Chiriquí Province, at 1650–2010 m. In Costa Rica is it known from a Premontane rain forest life zone while in Panama it occurs in Lower montane rain forest life zones. Flowering January to March, August-September. Fruits in January, February and September.⁴
ETYMOLOGY:
The epithet “juliusii” refers to Julius Johnson, son of the artists Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian. Rashid Johnson painted an abstract landscape artwork, in support of the conservation of Cerro Amay in Guatemala, the last large un-conserved cloud forest (ca. 30,000 acres) in northern Central America.²
NOTES:
1. Monstera juliusii is characterized by having white-green or mottled petioles, sheathed along their entire length, a thick and persistent sheath, fenestrated, entire or partially pinnatilobed leaf blades, and spathes that are yellowish-green externally and white internally.²
2. The species is a member of sect. Monstera. It differs from other species by the combination of leathery leaves with whitish or mottled petioles, thick and persistent petiole sheath margins, and by spathes yellowish green externally and white internally. Herbarium material of Monstera juliusii has been confused with Monstera standleyana, but the latter species has deep green petioles with white dots, usually non-perforate (rarely with few fenestrations), usually entire (rarely with few lobes), lanceolate to ovate leaf blades, creamy yellow spathes with brown spots on the outside, cream on the inside, and laterally flattened stigmatophores.⁴
3. Conservation status: Monstera juliusii is safely conserved in the Parque Internacional de La Amistad.⁵
STORY:
STORY TITLE: A name bought for a Guatemalan cloud forest
Monstera juliusii was described in 2020 from Cerro Frantzius in La Amistad International Park at 2000 m.² The epithet honors Julius Johnson, son of the artists Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian. Rashid Johnson painted an abstract landscape in support of the conservation of Cerro Amay in Guatemala, the last large unprotected cloud forest in northern Central America, some 30,000 acres.²
Herbarium material of the species had been filed under Monstera standleyana, a lowland plant of the Caribbean slope with dark green, white-dotted petioles and usually unperforated leaves. Monstera juliusii has whitish or mottled petioles, fenestrate and sometimes pinnatilobed leaves, and spathes yellowish green outside and white within, and lives on both sides of the Cordillera de Talamanca between 1650 and 2010 m.⁴
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Monstera juliusii M.Cedeño & Croat
2. Phytotaxa 461: 186 (2020) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Monstera juliusii
Additional photos from iNaturalist by Marcel Esquivel and nickrope