The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe. Also known as the arum family, members are often colloquially known as aroids. This family of 140 genera and about 4,075 known species is most diverse in the New World tropics, although also distributed in the Old World tropics and northern temperate regions.
Monstera deliciosa, the Swiss cheese plant or split-leaf philodendron is a species of flowering plant native to tropical forests of southern Mexico, south to Panama. It has been introduced to many tropical areas, and has become a mildly invasive species in Hawaii, Seychelles, Ascension Island and the Society Islands. It is very widely grown in temperate zones as a houseplant.
Swiss cheese plant may refer to:
Monstera is a genus of 59 species of flowering plants in the arum family, Araceae, native to tropical regions of the Americas.
In ecology, shade tolerance is a plant's ability to tolerate low light levels. The term is also used in horticulture and landscaping, although in this context its use is sometimes imprecise, especially in labeling of plants for sale in commercial nurseries.
Eucalyptus obliqua, commonly known as messmate stringybark or messmate, but also known as brown top, brown top stringbark, stringybark or Tasmanian oak, is a species of tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has rough, stringy or fibrous bark on the trunk and larger branches, smooth greyish bark on the thinnest branches, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven to fifteen or more, white flowers and cup-shaped or barrel-shaped fruit.
Ficus obliqua, commonly known as the small-leaved fig, is a tree in the family Moraceae, native to eastern Australia, New Guinea, eastern Indonesia to Sulawesi and islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Previously known for many years as Ficus eugenioides, it is a banyan of the genus Ficus, which contains around 750 species worldwide in warm climates, including the edible fig. Beginning life as a seedling, which grows on other plants (epiphyte) or on rocks (lithophyte), F. obliqua can grow to 60 m (200 ft) high and nearly as wide with a pale grey buttressed trunk, and glossy green leaves.
Perforate leaves, sometimes called fenestrate, occur naturally in some species of plants. Holes develop as a leaf grows.
Monstera adansonii, the Adanson's monstera, Swiss cheese plant, or five holes plant, is a species of flowering plant from family Araceae which is widespread across much of South America and Central America. Besides South American countries it can also be found in the West Indies on islands such as Antigua, Grenada, Saba, St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Tobago, and Trinidad. The species is quite common near river valleys at lower elevations.
Monstera dubia is a species of plant in the genus Monstera native to Central and South America. M. dubia is known for the dramatic transformation its foliage makes as it climbs from seed stage on the forest floor, to shingling closely up a host tree trunk or other surface, until mature leaves with fenestrations similar to Monstera deliciosa appear. This transformation is an example of leaf dimorphism. Dubia refers to dubious, because authors were not certain that the species fell within the genus Marcgravia, where it was initially placed.
Monstera siltepecana is a species of flowering plant in the genus Monstera native to the wet tropical biomes of southern Mexico and Central America. Like other Monstera species, it is a vining plant and as it matures, develops holes in its leaves. Especially in immature foliage, it has distinctive silver venation. The monstera siltepecana is a very fast growing plant along with the other arum family members.
Monstera lechleriana is a flowering plant in the genus Monstera in the arum family, Araceae. It is native to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panamá, Peru, and Venezuela. The species is named for the German botanist Willibald Lechler, who collected the original type specimen in 1854. It was the scientifically described by Heinrich Wilhelm Schott by 1860. Like other Monstera, the plant is an epiphytic climbing vine which grows on the lower trunks of trees, and which produces large leaves with leaf windows when mature that appear on each side of the midrib of the foliage.
Monstera luteynii is a species of flowering plant in the genus Monstera of the arum family, Araceae.
Monstera minima is a species of flowering plant in the genus Monstera of the arum family, Araceae. Its binomial name minima refers to its tiny foliage, and it is indeed the smallest of the Monstera species when it comes to leaf size. It is most easily distinguished from other species in the genus due to the fact that its peduncles are much longer than its leaves.
Monstera subpinnata is a species of flowering plant native to Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. It grows as an epiphyte. The plant is best known for its pinnate leaves, which are unusual within the genus Monstera. The species can grow as tall as 12 m, with leaves growing as large as 40 cm long and 30 cm wide.
Monstera tuberculata, also called the giant Monstera or the giant velvet-leaf Monstera, is a species of plant in the genus Monstera native from Mexico south to Panama. It grows in lowland wet tropical biomes up to 200 metres (660 ft) in elevation. Similar to Monstera dubia and a few other species in its genus, when young M. tuberculata has a shingle-like growth habit with leaves tightly pressed against the trunks of trees. As it matures, it has short-stemmed, oval leaves that lack the fenestrations of better-known species like Monstera deliciosa. Unusually for an aroid, its fruit hangs like a pendant.
Rhaphidophora pertusa is a climbing species of aroid plant within the genus Rhaphidophora of the Araceae family. The species—which, superficially, is quite similar to R. tetrasperma—is found on the Andaman-Nicobar Islands and the Maldives, as well as in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Monstera gambensis is a small species of plant in the family Araceae. It is endemic to the tropical forest of La Gamba, Golfito, Costa Rica where the elevation is 100m above sea level. They can be found on the floor of humid forests with their stems climbing up other trees and their aerial roots visible above the soil. Sometimes the entire plant can be solely on other trees. M. gambensis is typically not fenestrated until the adult stage, but they can still have two perforations on their blade.
Monstera alfaroi is a flowering plant in the arum family. It is endemic to mid-altitude premontane rainforests of Costa Rica at altitudes of 1,100 to 1,250 metres. M. alfaroi features light brown petioles with black or white warts. It is closely related to Monstera buseyi, but M. alfaroi can be distinguished by its larger inflorescence. M. alfaroi is also easily confused with M. costaricensis, which can be distinguished from M. alfaroi by its petioles with white pustules, more conical inflorescence, and location; M. costaricensis only occurs in lowland areas of Costa Rica below 600 metres (2,000 ft). Mature plants have ovate leaf blades as long as 90 centimetres (35 in) and 45 centimetres (18 in) wide, with few circular fenestrations near the midrib. From petiole to blade tip, M. alfaroi leaves can be up to 160 centimetres (63 in) long. It has a white spadix and an externally light green spathe. Flowering has been recorded in November, and fruiting in January.
Philodendron opacum is a species of flowering plant. It has a native range extending from Southeast Nicaragua to Ecuador and includes Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama. It's habitat is largely restricted to the Tropical Wet Forest and Premontane Wet Forest life zones in Central America, but in South America extends into Premontane Rain Forest (Colombia) and Tropical Moist Forest (Ecuador).
