MONSTERA SPRUCEANA
PROTOLOGUE: Monstera spruceana (Schott) Engl., published in Flora Brasiliensis 3(2): 115 (1878). The protologue is reproduced below.
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Tornelia spruceana Schott
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Monstera steyermarkii G.S.Bunting
DISTRIBUTION: Costa Rica to S. Trop. America: Bolivia, Brazil North, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Costa Rica: Guanacaste iNaturalist: Acre, Antioquia, Chocó, Loreto, Madre de Dios, Orellana, Sucumbíos.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Robust nomadic vine, appressed-climbing habit. Seedlings: filiform. Juvenile plants: root climbers; stems dark green, smooth, cylindrical; internodes 2–8 cm long, 0.5–12.0 mm diam.; petiole not visible, dark green, smooth, 4–6 cm long; blades obovate, subcordate at base, acuminate at apex, coriaceous, 5–15 × 6–12 cm, appressed to the phorophyte; fenestrations present, usually 1 that breaks at the margin. Adult plants: root climbers; stems light or dark-green, cylindrical, warty with pustules; internodes 3–8 cm long, 2–6 cm diam., 1.3–1.5 times longer than wide; anchor roots light brown; feeder roots dark brown with white trichomes; petiole light-green, smooth or warty, 25–50 cm long, sheathed to base of the geniculum or to base of the blade; petiole sheath deciduous with fibrous fragments; geniculum smooth or warty, sunken adaxially, convex abaxially, 2–4 cm long; blades lanceolate or ovate, obtuse, truncate, subcordate or attenuate at base, obtuse to slightly acuminate at apex, coriaceous, drying grayish or blackish, 25–60 × 25–30 cm, 1.2–2.2(3.3) times longer than wide, decurrent on the geniculum, decurrent portion 3–4 mm wide; midrib ribbed adaxially, convex abaxially, drying black to dark brown on both surfaces; primary lateral veins 10–18 per side, sunken adaxially, prominent abaxially, drying blackish or dark brown; collective veins not visible; fenestrations present in transition to adult plants; margins pinnatilobed, 1–6 lobes per side, 2–4 veins per lobe.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences on ascending stems, 1 or 2 simultaneously at flowering time, arranged in the axils of the leaves; peduncle smooth, 4–10 cm long; spathe obtuse to short-acuminate, white internally and light green externally during development, unknown at anthesis; spadix white during development, unknown at anthesis, 15–25 cm long, 3–6 cm diam., 8–9 times longer than wide; basal sterile flowers 5–7 mm long; fertile flowers 6–8 mm long; stamens 2–7 mm long, with laminar filaments; anthers 1.5–2.0 mm long; ovary rectangular in longitudinal section, ribbed, rectangular, more slender than style, 3–4 × 2–3 mm; style hexagonal, 3–5 × 3–4 mm, stigma linear; berries with a green stylar cap during development, mature stylar cap unknown; pulp unknown; seeds unknown.⁴
ECOLOGY:
Monstera spruceana ranges from Costa Rica and Panama to Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, at 50–1600 m, in Premontane wet forest and Premontane rain forest life zones. Flowering in April and October. Fruiting in December.⁴
ETYMOLOGY:
After Richard Spruce (1817–1893), British botanist and botanical explorer, collector of the type specimen.⁶
NOTES:
1. The species is a member of sect. Marcgraviopsis. It is distinguished by its pinnatilobed adult leaf blade with relatively broad pinnae with divisions extending to very near the midrib, the slightly verrucose or smooth petiole, sheathed up to the base of the geniculum or even up to the base of the blade, the petiolar sheath disintegrating as fibrous residues, short peduncles (<10 cm), long spadices (15–25 cm), and dark green stylar caps after anthesis. Other distinguishing features include the usually grayish to sometimes blackish drying blades. It is similar to Monstera anomala, but that species is distinguished by its completely entire leaves, by the constricted stylar region, and by its occurrence (at least in Costa Rica and Panama) in lowland humid forests (Cedeño-Fonseca et al. 2022).⁴
2. Conservation status: Monstera spruceana is protected in the Zona Protectora Arenal-Monteverde and the Reserva Biológica del Bosque Nuboso Monteverde.⁵
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Monstera spruceana (Schott) Engl.
2. Flora Brasiliensis 3(2): 115 (1878) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Monstera spruceana
Additional photos by David Scherberich
Additional photos from iNaturalist by Hervé GALLIFFET, Luis Alejandro Quintero Bernal, Líggjas Á Váli Smith, Oliver Ingold, roly_ramirez, Mateus Ferreira, gabrielly_delamarche, Julien Piolain, Anthony Batista and Guillaume Léotard
Additional photos from Wikimedia Commons by Vincent A. Vos and Vincent A. Vos
