MONSTERA SILTEPECANA
PROTOLOGUE: Monstera siltepecana Matuda, published in Revista de la Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural 11: 97 (1950).
Monstera siltepecana Matuda, sp. nov. Caudex alte scandens, ramulis crassis internodiis brevibus, radicibus aereis numerosis. Folia juvencula sub spadice coriacea, late ovato-oblonga, 25–30 cm longa, 12–17 cm lata, apice acuta, basi obtuso-rotundata, subaequilatera, margine integra, foraminibus extensis numerosis inaequalibus inter costam et marginem mediis, nervis lateralibus utrinque 8–9 tenuibus patentibus; foliorum petiolo crassiusculo, 20–30 cm longo, late vaginato, vagina decidua quae, cum decomposita, petiolum canaliculatum relinquit, geniculo 3 cm. Pedunculo spathae subaequilongo, crasso, 3–8 cm longo, 0.5 cm lato; spatha coriacea decidua; spadice cylindrico crasso apice rotundato, sessili, 13 cm longo, 2 cm diam., ut videtur pallide flavo in vivo, nigro in sicco. Type: MEXICO. Chiapas: en ladera húmeda, orilla de Río Naranjo (una de las vertientes del Río Grijalva), Cascada, Siltepec, 1200 m, 11 April 1949, Matuda 18642 (holotype Matuda Herbarium; isotype Herbario Nacional, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México).
SYNONYMS:
OTHER NAMES: Arpón, Hoja de calador (Guatemala); Conte (Mexico); Pico de Zope, Piñanona (El Salvador).
DISTRIBUTION: EC. & S. Mexico to Nicaragua: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Nicaragua.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Mexico: Chiapas, Veracruz iNaturalist: Alta Verapaz, Chiapas, Escuintla, Francisco Morazán, La Paz, Ocotepeque, Quetzaltenango, Sacatepéquez, Santa Ana, Sololá, Sonsonate.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Nomadic vine, appressed-climbing habit. Seedlings: bearing foliose leaves. Juvenile plants: root climbers; stems dark green, smooth, cylindrical; internodes 1–3 cm long, 0.5–9.0 mm diam.; petiole distinct, dark green, smooth, 10–18 cm long, sheathed up to the medial part; petiole sheath deciduous; unsheathed portion slightly ribbed; blades ovate to broadly ovate, strongly cordate at base, acuminate at apex, membranous, 10–15 × 5–11 cm, not appressed to the phorophyte; fenestrations present, perforations on both sides of the blade, sometimes only on one side. Adult plants: root climbers; stems dark green, green to blue to greenish or brownish, smooth or, sparsely white-spotted, cylindrical or slightly flattened, multiple sulcate, rarely with pustules; internodes, 3–8 cm long, 1.0–3.5 cm diam., 2.3–3.0 times longer than wide, the epidermis dries yellow-brown, and then peels off to expose a smooth, blackened surface; petiole dark-green, semi-glossy to matte, glaucous at base, sometimes white-spotted, smooth, 15–45 cm long, sheathed to base of the geniculum or 6 cm before it; petiole sheath deciduous; geniculum smooth, subterete, 3.0–4.5 cm long; blades ovate, sometimes falcate, broadly cordate at base, acuminate at apex, subcoriaceous, drying black, yellowish or greenish, 26–60 × 20–35(44) cm, 1.2–2.0 times longer than wide; midrib broadly sunken to flat and moderately colorless to paler adaxially, obtusely angular and paler abaxially; primary lateral veins 6–12 per side, faintly sunken and colorless adaxially, convex and slightly paler abaxially; secondary veins reticulate, darker and clearly visible to darkly visible abaxially; fenestrations absent or present, perforations numerous, mostly arranged in 2–4 series on each side of the midrib, rounded near the midrib, elongated near the margin and extending almost to the margins, rarely with only 1 or 2 perforations; margins entire.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences 1 or 2 simultaneously at flowering time, arranged in the axils of the leaves; peduncle smooth to minutely rough, green, 5–12 cm long, 0.5–2.0 cm diam.; spathe long-acuminate, light green during development, light-green, greenish-white to light yellow and glaucous externally and pink to white internally at anthesis, coriaceous, fully open, deciduous or marcescent after anthesis, 18–25 × 4.7–6.3 cm, up to 7 cm longer than the spadix; spadix white during development, greenish white, white or yellowish green at anthesis, 10–13 cm long, 3.0–3.5 cm diam., 5–7 times longer than wide; basal sterile flowers 3–5 mm long; fertile flowers 4–6 mm long; stamens 1–5 mm long, with laminar filaments; anthers 1–2 mm long; ovary ribbed, 2.5–3.5 × 2–3 mm; style compressed, pentagonal or hexagonal, 0.5–2.0 × 2–3 mm; stigmatophore cupuliform, 0.5–1.0 mm long, circular when dry; stigma circular; berries with a greenish stylar cap during development, mature stylar cap yellowish; pulp white; seeds light-brown, 6–7 × 3–5 mm.⁴
ECOLOGY:
Monstera siltepecana ranges from Mexico (Chiapas and Veracruz) to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, at 10–2500 m, in Premontane wet rain forest and Lower montane rain forest life zones. Flowering from February to September. Fruiting from October to March.⁴
ETYMOLOGY:
After Siltepec, Chiapas, the type locality.⁵
NOTES:
1. The species, a member of sect. Monstera, is characterized by its petioles sheathed from the middle or up to the geniculum with deciduous sheath and the free part sharply C-sulcate, ovate blades which are broadly cordate at base with the margins entire and the perforations present or lacking, when present mostly numerous in 2–4 series on each side of the midrib and with secondary lateral veins reticulate as well as by inflorescences with the peduncle shorter than spadix and a spathe that is rose-colored to white inside. The species may be confused with Monstera adansonii but differs in having sphate long-acuminate (vs. spathe short or long acuminate), spathe pink to white internally at anthesis (vs. spathe white internally at anthesis), berries with mature stylar cap yellowish (vs. berries with mature stylar cap creamy-white). Monstera siltepecana also dry grayish or yellow-brown and have primary and secondary lateral veins parallel.⁴
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Monstera siltepecana Matuda
2. Revista de la Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural 11: 97 (1950) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Monstera siltepecana
Additional photos by Patrick Blanc
Additional photos by David Scherberich
Additional photos from iNaturalist by Juanito Escamilla, mattde1, Grete Pasch, Luke Padon, Jose Santiago, Andrea Mayen, Bill Crins, Carlos G Velazco-Macias, lilithohlson, mario_trejo, María Eugenia Mendiola González, sabrewing, Ana Laura Gómez López, Carl Ramirez, ergc, Hermes Vega, isarmien, Leoš Smutný a Antonín Horáček, marenee_alvarez, Pablo Galán, Richard Alward, Saban-Sequén, E.A. and taracahill
Additional photos from Wikimedia Commons by Mickaël Schauli and Grete Pasch
