MONSTERA MONTEVERDENSIS
PROTOLOGUE: Monstera monteverdensis M.Cedeño & Croat, published in Phytotaxa 461: 188 (2020).
Monstera monteverdensis M.Cedeño & Croat, sp. nov. Type: COSTA RICA. Puntarenas: Monteverde, Santa Elena, Camino a Selvatura, 10°19’52’’ N, 84°48’49’’ W, 1530 m, 11 March 2017, M. Cedeño, M. Fernández & I. Chinchilla 1045 (holotype USJ!, isotype MO! [to be distributed]).
DISTRIBUTION: Costa Rica: Costa Rica.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Costa Rica: Guanacaste, Puntarenas iNaturalist: Alajuela, Guanacaste, Puntarenas.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Nomadic vine, appressed-climbing habit. Seedlings: bearing foliage leaves. Juvenile plants: root climbers; stem light green with white dots; internodes 3–5 cm long, 3–5 mm diam.; petioles conspicuous, dark green or light green, smooth, 8–14 cm long, sheathed throughout its length; petiole sheath deciduous; blades ovate or lanceolate, acuminate at apex, sub-cordate to truncate at base, with or without fenestrations (when present, usually on one side of blade, breaking the margin if very close to it), coriaceous, 7–14 × 3–9 cm, not flattened against the phorophyte. Adult plants: root climbers; stem light brown or beige, smooth, terete; internodes 1.5–3.5 cm long, 1.0–3.5 cm diam., 1.0–1.5 times longer than wide; anchor roots light brown to brown, 3–6 cm long; feeder roots light brown; petiole dark green with white dots, smooth, 25–50 cm long, sheathed to the middle of the geniculum; petiole sheath involute in young leaves, becoming deciduous; geniculum smooth, flattened adaxially, rounded abaxially, 2–3 cm long; blade ovate to lanceolate in outline, oblique, acuminate at apex, subcordate to obtuse at base, decurrent to the middle of the geniculum, the decurrent portion 1–2 mm wide, coriaceous, 25–60 × 20–30 cm; midrib grooved above, transversally convex below; primary lateral veins 10–15 per side, impressed above, prominently raised below; collective veins slightly visible; fenestrations sparse, rarely near the midrib; margins pinnatifid with 2–8 lobes per side.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences on ascending stems; peduncle smooth, 14–20 cm long; spathe acuminate, light green and pruinose in developing inflorescences, externally light green and pruinose at anthesis, internally white, leathery, open at the apex, the margins overlapping at base, deciduous after anthesis, 15–20 × 9–14 cm, up to 7 cm longer than the spadix; spadix cream-colored during development, yellowish cream at anthesis, 6–14 cm long, 1.5–4.0 cm diameter; basal sterile flowers 4–6 mm long, with an orange or rusty-red secretion; fertile flowers 5–7 mm long; stamens 1–6 mm long, with filament laminar; anther 2–3 mm long; ovary rectangular in longitudinal section, ridged, 4–5 mm long, 2–3 mm diameter; style hexagonal, 2–3 mm long, 4–5 mm diameter, stigmatophore cupular, 0.5–2.0 mm long, stigma linear to rhombic, with orange or rusty-red discharge. berries with the stylar layer light green during development, maturing white-cream; pulp white; seeds smooth, brown to dark brown, obliquely obovate, 8–10 mm long.⁴
ECOLOGY:
Monstera monteveredensis is endemic to Costa Rica, occurring on both Caribbean and Pacific slopes of the Cordillera de Guanacaste and Cordillera de Tilarán, and the extreme northwestern part of the Cordillera Central, at 500–2300 m, in Lower montane wet forest, Lower montane rain forest life zones and in the transition zone between Tropical moist forest and Premontane wet forest life zones. Flowering has been recorded from December to June and in August, and fruiting has been recorded throughout the year.⁴
ETYMOLOGY:
This species is named after the town of Monteverde (in the northern part of Puntarenas province), around which the species is especially abundant.²
NOTES:
1. Monstera monteverdensis is characterized by having mottled petioles, which are sheathed along their entire length, deciduous petiole sheath margins, pinnatifid leaf blades with few fenestrations, and light green, externally pruinose spathes.²
2. The species, a member of sect. Monstera, is characterized by its moderately slender stems, nearly fully sheathed petioles with the sheath mostly deciduous or persisting at fragments or fibers, small yellowish brown, narrowly ovate, weakly perforated, short-acuminate, moderately inequilateral leaf blades as well as the inflorescence with the spathe much longer than the stubby spadix. Monstera monteverdensis has been confused with Monstera dissecta but that species has larger more prominently pinnate leaves and petioles with a persistent sheath. Other species with which Monstera monteverdensis has been confused with Monstera epipremnoides and Monstera lentii, but it differs from Monstera epipremnoides by its deciduous (vs. persistent) petiolar sheaths, and pinnatifid leaves with few lateral lobes (2–8 per side) and few fenestrations or none (vs. pinnatifid with numerous lateral lobes (8–15 per side) with several fenestrations at either side of the midrib). It differs from Monstera lentii by its deciduous (vs. persistent) petiolar sheaths, thicker spathes, and styles with a cupular stigmatophore of 0.5–2.0 mm (vs. a conical stigmatophore of 3–4 mm).⁴
3. Conservation status: Monstera monteverdensis is protected in the Reserva Biológica Alberto Manuel Brenes, Reserva Biológica del Bosque Nuboso Monteverde, Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja, Parque Nacional Volcán Tenorio and Parque Nacional Guanacaste.⁵
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Monstera monteverdensis M.Cedeño & Croat
2. Phytotaxa 461: 188 (2020) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Monstera monteverdensis
Additional photos from iNaturalist by mdoliveira, Oliver Ingold, Alec Lindsay, Nate Hartley, Kate Bowles, Laura A. Dias, katiebr, Alex Yu, Bike Hike Botany, ecarlsonn, gyno77, jdobes, John D Reynolds, Peter Anthony Ricci, psweet, Rose Zappa, Andreas Berger, crlevy, Dirk Mezger, Makena, Maxxum Fioriti and Nigel Finney
Additional photo from Wikimedia Commons by Chloe and Trevor Van Loon
