MONSTERA NGABENSIS

PROTOLOGUE: Monstera ngabensis Croat, published in Phytotaxa 656: 125 (2024).

Monstera ngabensis Croat, sp. nov. Type: PANAMA. Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé: Parcela 8. Nole Duima/Kankintú, cerca de Entrada de Hacha. La Nevera, Filo de la cordillera, bosque montano primario, 1750 m, 25 Aug, 2012, Melisa Ayala, Alicia Ibáñez, Ángela Celis, Noris Flores, Jorge Castillo 1504 (holotype PMA!-106396).

DISTRIBUTION: Panama: Panama.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Panama: comarca Ngäbe-Buglé.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Nomadic vine, appressed-climbing habit. Seedlings: unknown. Juvenile plants: unknown. Adult plants: root climbers; stems greenish brown; internodes 2–3 cm long, 1 cm diam., 2–3 times longer than wide, dark brown drying, finely striated, yellow-brown brittle epidermis; petioles 25 cm long, sheathed 1 cm before base of the geniculum; petiole sheath deciduous, with fibrous persistent residues, pale brown; blades ovate, 25.0 × 15.5 cm, 1.6 times longer than wide, moderately thin, faintly bicolorous, dark green and matte adaxially, faintly paler abaxially, drying dark brown and matte adaxially, slightly paler and semi-glossy abaxially; midrib drying slightly paler adaxially and reddish brown, narrowly rounded and paler abaxially; primary lateral veins 7 per side, weakly convex and colorless adaxially, closely rounded and slightly paler abaxially; secondary veins mostly parallel with some crossed oblique veins; upper surface granular, lacking short pale lines; lower surface densely pale mottled, sparsely coarse-granular; fenestrations present, arranged on one side only, oblong; margins entire.²

INFLORESCENCE:

Inflorescences erect; peduncle 20 cm long, 8 mm diam., drying with a scaly yellow-brown squamous epidermis, the underlying tissue blackened; spathe unknown; spadix greenish-white or white, 11.2 cm long, 2.5 cm diam., 4.5 cm times longer than wide; basal sterile flowers 3–4 mm long; fertile flowers 5–6 mm long; stamens with laminar filaments; ovary ribbed, 3–5 × 1–2 mm; style hexagonal, 1–2 × 1–2 mm; stigmatophore thickly columnar; stigma linear with a deep medial cleft, thick, conspicuous margins, pale brown; berries white; seeds unknown.²

ECOLOGY:

Monstera ngabensis is endemic to Panama, know only from the type locality in Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, at 1750 m, in a Montane rain forest life zone. Flowering in August.²

ETYMOLOGY:

The species is named for the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, Panama, where it was first collected.²

NOTES:

1. The species is characterized by its nomadic vine, appressed-climbing habit, greenish-white internodes with light yellow-brown peeling epidermis, leaves with deciduous sheaths, small perforations on one side of the leaf, as well as by the moderately long-pedunculate inflorescence with a stubby white spadix.²

2. The species is a member of sect. Monstera characterized by its nomadic vine, appressed-climbing habit, greenish-white internodes with light yellow-brown peeling epidermis, moderately short-petiolate leaves with deciduous sheaths, ovate, dark brown-drying blades which are more or less acute at the apex and inequilaterally rounded at base with small perforations on one side, as well as by the moderately long-peduculate inflorescence with a stubby white spadix only 4.4 times longer than broad. The species shares characters with both Monstera mittermeieri and Monstera oreophila but differ from both in having up to 7 pairs of primary lateral veins whereas the other two species have more than 14 veins per side.²

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Monstera ngabensis Croat

2. Phytotaxa 656: 125 (2024) — protologue.