MONSTERA TABLASENSIS
PROTOLOGUE: Monstera tablasensis M.Cedeño, published in Aroideana 45: 162 (2022).
Monstera tablasensis M.Cedeño, sp. nov. — Type: COSTA RICA. Puntarenas. Coto Brus. Sabalito. Zona Protectora Las Tablas, Finca Sandí, 2000 m, 30 April 2016, M. Cedeño, M. Blanco & F. Oviedo 879 (holotype, USJ!; isotype, MO!, PMA!).
DISTRIBUTION: Costa Rica to Panama: Costa Rica, Panama.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Costa Rica: Puntarenas.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Robust nomadic vine, appressed-climbing habit. Seedlings: bearing foliage leaves. Juvenile plants: root climbers; stems light green, smooth, cylindrical; internodes 2–5 cm long, 3–5 mm diam.; blades not appressed to the phorophyte. Adult plants: root climbers; stems dark-green or beige, cylindrical; internodes 1–5 cm long, 1–3 cm diam., 1.0–1.6 times longer than wide; anchor roots dark brown; cataphylls light-green or yellowish, deciduous but leaving dry fragments on the peduncle; feeder roots beige; petiole light-green, sometimes white-dotted, smooth, 30–60 cm long, sheathed to base of the geniculum; petiole sheath deciduous; geniculum smooth, sunken adaxially, convex abaxially, 2–3 cm long; blades lanceolate to ovate, cuneate to rounded or sub-truncate at base, acuminate at apex, coriaceous, 30–45 × 20–30 cm, decurrent-wavy on the geniculum with 4–9 undulations of 1–3 mm wide; midrib ribbed adaxially, convex abaxially; primary lateral veins 15–25 per side, sunken adaxially, prominent abaxially; secondary veins inconspicuous; collective veins slightly visible; fenestrations absent or present, rounded near the midrib, oval towards the margin; margins entire or pinnatilobed due to tearing of the fenestrations that extend to the margin, 3–6 lobes per side.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences on ascending stems; 1–3 simultaneously at flowering time, arranged in the axils of the leaves or into cataphylls; peduncle smooth, 10–17 cm long, curved at base of the spadix at an angle of 80°; spathe light green during development, yellowish-white externally and white internally at anthesis, marcescent after anthesis, turning dark brown; spadix white during development, light-green at anthesis, 12–18 cm long, 2.5–5.0 cm diam.; basal sterile flowers unknown; fertile flowers unknown; berries with a creamish stylar cap during development, mature stylar cap cream; pulp white; seeds black, 3–5 mm long.⁴
ECOLOGY:
Monstera tablasensis is endemic to Costa Rica and Panama, and occurs south of the Pacific slope in border between Costa Rica and Panama in the Cordillera de Talamanca, at 1900–2300 m, in Premontane wet forest and Premontane rain forest life zones. Flowering in September. Fruiting was recorded in April.⁴
ETYMOLOGY:
This species is named after the Zona Protectora Las Tablas in Coto Brus (in southern part of Puntarenas province), around which the species is especially abundant.²
NOTES:
1. Monstera tablasensis differs from the other species of the genus in Costa Rica by having the petiole sheathing in its entire length, deciduous sheath wings with fibrous residues, acute or cuneate leaf base, coriaceous leaf blades, and a marcescent spathe that envelops the spadix. It is a member of sect. Monstera.²
2. The species is a member of sect. Monstera and is characterized by the petiole sheathed along its entire length, deciduous petiole sheath with fibrous residues, acute or wedge-shaped leaf blade at base, coriaceous, and marcescent spathe that does not embrace the spadix. This species is known from a few collections made near the border with Costa Rica and Panama.⁴
3. Conservation status: Monstera tablasensis is protected in the Zona Protectora Las Tablas.²
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Monstera tablasensis M.Cedeño
2. Aroideana 45: 162 (2022) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Monstera tablasensis
Additional photos from iNaturalist by LostInCR