Monstera costaricensis (Engl. & K.Krause) Croat & Grayum, Ann.

Croat, Thomas B., Cedeño-Fonseca, Marco & Ortiz, Orlando O., 2024, Revision of Monstera (Araceae: Monsteroideae) of Central America, Phytotaxa 656 (1), pp. 1-197 : 49-52

10. Monstera costaricensis (Engl. & K.Krause) Croat & Grayum, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 74: 659. 1987.

≡ Rhodospatha costaricensis Engl. & K.Krause in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.23B (Heft 37): 95. 1908. ( Figs. 18 , 19 )

Type: — COSTA RICA. [Limón:] Ferme de Boston, Atlantic watershed , 30 m elev., [10°01’ N, 83°15’30”W], August 1901, A. Tonduz 14628 (holotype B!, photo F!) .

Robust nomadic vine, appressed-climbing habit. SEEDLINGS: bearing foliage leaves. JUVENILE PLANTS: root climbers; stems dark green with greenish-white pustules which form a rough-verrucose surface, cylindrical or dorsally flattened; internodes 3–13 cm long, 3–10 mm diam.; petiole distinct, light-green, rough, 5–13 cm long, sheathed to base of the geniculum; petiole sheath deciduous; blades lanceolate, truncate or attenuate at base, acuminate at apex, thinly coriaceous, 8–18 × 4–9 cm, not appressed to the phorophyte; fenestrations absent. ADULT PLANTS: root climbers; stems dark green with greenish-white pustules which form a rough-verrucose surface, dorsally flattened; internodes 2–3 cm long, 2.0– 3.5 cm diam., 0.8–1.0 times as long as wide; cataphylls with thick-undulate margins, dark green with green or white pustules, marcescent; anchor roots grayish; feeder roots black; petiole dark green with greenish-white pustules along their entire length, rough-verrucose, 30–70 cm long, sheathed to base of the geniculum; petiole sheath persistent throughout or from the medial part towards the geniculum, markedly undulate; geniculum rough-verrucose, flattened adaxially, convex abaxially, 2.0– 3.5 cm long; blades narrowly ovate to lanceolate-ovate, broadly cuneate to truncate at base, spiral-acuminate at apex, thin coriaceous to coriaceous, drying grayish, blackish or greenish, 40–75 × 15–35 cm, 2.0–2.7 times longer than wide, slightly decurrent-undulate up to medial part of the geniculum (4–6 undulations of 2–3 mm wide); midrib slightly ribbed adaxially, convex abaxially, drying black on both surfaces; primary lateral veins 30–55 per side, bifurcated, strongly sunken adaxially, prominent abaxially, departing midrib at 45–65°, drying black or yellowish, secondary veins slightly prominent and reticulate; collective veins prominent; fenestrations absent or present, arranged near midrib; margins entire (slightly undulate) pinnatilobed due to tearing of the perforations that extend to the margin, with 2 lobes per side. INFLORESCENCES on ascending stems, 1–3 simultaneously at flowering season, arranged in the leaf axils or into cataphylls; peduncle rough-verrucose, 10–17 cm long, 1.0– 1.5 cm diam.; spathe obtuse or mucronate, light green during development, white internally and cream externally at anthesis, 9–15 × 8–13 cm, equal or 2 cm longer than the spadix; spadix cream during development, green to yellowish at anthesis, 8–14 cm long, 1.2–2.5 cm diam., (4.1)6–7(10.6) times longer than wide; basal sterile flowers 3–5 mm long; fertile flowers 4–7 mm long; stamens 3–7 mm long, with laminar filaments; anthers 2.0– 2.5 mm long; ovary quadrangular in longitudinal section, ribbed; style hexagonal, thickly conical, 1.2–2.5 mm long; stigma linear; berries with a yellow stylar cap during development, mature stylar cap cream; pulp white; seeds ovoid.

Distribution and ecology: — Monstera costaricensis ranges from Nicaragua to Panama, at 0–1047 m in Tropical wet forest life zones.

Phenology: —Flowering January, March-May, August, October, and fruiting in April and May.

Discussion: —The species is a member of sect. Monstera and is characterized by its dark green, matte, densely and finely tuberculate internodes; minutely and abundantly whitish-dotted and tuberculate-roughened petioles, sheath revolute along the margin, extending to base of the blade and conspicuously undulate along its length onto the geniculum and to base of the blade, narrowly ovate to lanceolate-ovate, never pinnately lobed leaf blades that are 2.0–2.7 times longer than broad with the margins entire and with most larger leaves with 1–3 holes, as well as by an inflorescence with the peduncle longer than the spathe with minute whitish dots or tubercles.

Monstera costaricensis is most similar to M. buseyi which differs by its more or less asperous-verruculose petioles and reddish-brown drying blades with 4 or 5 pairs of lateral lobes and 15 to 50 primary lateral veins per side and with M. alfaroii which is distinguished by its tuberculous petiole, a persistent and thickly wavy sheath, and a conical style.

Additional specimens examined: — NICARAGUA. Atlántico Sur: Isla del Maíz Grande , 12°10’N 083°03’W, 40 m, 20 agosto 1982, Esteban M. Martínez S. & Russ Riviere 1659 ( MO!) . COSTA RICA. Ferme de Boston, Versant Atlantique , 30 m, Aug 1901, Adolphe Tonduz 14628 ( F!, MO!, NY!) ; Heredia: Sarapiquí, Las Horquetas, E.B. La Selva, Original forest near the Río Puerto Viejo, about 2 km upstream from the confluence with the Río Sarapiquí, Formerly Finca La Selva ”of Holdridge”, 100 m, 14 June 1968, (Fr.), W. Burger & R. Stolze 5780 ( CR!) ; Heredia, Sarapiquí, Horquetas , Estación Biológica La Selva , 50 m, 3 November 2018, (Fl., Fr.), M. Cedeño & M. Chaves 1497 ( USJ!) ; Heredia, Sarapiquí, Horquetas , Estación Biológica La Selva , 50 m, 3 November 2018, (Fl., Fr.), M. Cedeño & M. Chaves 1494 ( USJ!) ; Heredia, Sarapiquí, Horquetas , Estación Biológica La Selva , 50 m, 18 November 2018, (Fr.), M. Cedeño & M. Chaves 1496 ( USJ!) ; Finca La Selva, the OTS field station on the Río Puerto Viejo just E of its junction with the Río Sarapiquí, 10°24’36”N 084°00’36”W, 100 m, 30 August 1980, B.E. Hammel 9649 ( DUKE!) ; Finca La Selva, the OTS field station on the Río Puerto Viejo just E of its junction with the Río Sarapiquí , 10°25’53”N 084°00’13”W, 100 m, 4 August 1980, B.E. Hammel 9431 ( DUKE!) ; Finca La Selva, the OTS field station on the Río Puerto Viejo just E of its junction with the Río Sarapiquí , 10°24’00”N 083°59’24”W, 100 m, 14 November 1980, B.E. Hammel 10468A ( DUKE!) ; La Selva Biological Station , 10°25’53”N 084°00’13”W, 100 m, 22 May 1980, B.E. Hammel 8749 ( DUKE!) ; Finca La Selva, the OTS field station on the Río Puerto Viejo just E of its junction with the Río Sarapiquí, 10°24’36”N 084°00’00”W, 100 m, 13 July 1982, B.E. Hammel & J. Trainer 13177 ( DUKE!) ; La Selva Biological Station , 10°25’53”N 084°00’13”W, 100 m, 6 June 1985, Brian Jacobs 3278 ( DUKE!) ; La Selva Biological Station , 10°25’53”N 084°00’13”W, 100 m, 26 February 1981, J.P. Folsom 9126 ( DUKE!) ; Finca La Selva, the OTS field station on the Río Puerto Viejo just E of its junction with the Río Sarapiquí , 10°25’53”N 084°00’13”W, 100 m, 22 May 1980, M.H. Grayum 2845 ( DUKE!) ; Finca La Selva, the OTS field station on the Río Puerto Viejo just E of its junction with the Río Sarapiquí , 10°25’53”N 084°00’13”W, 100 m, 18 May 1980, M.H. Grayum 2826 ( DUKE!) ; Finca La Selva, the OTS field station on the Río Puerto Viejo just E of its junction with the Río Sarapiquí , 10°25’53”N 084°00’13”W, 100 m, 11 August 1979, M.H. Grayum 2299 ( DUKE!) ; Just N of Las Horquetas along road to Puerto Viejo, 10°22’N 083°58’W, 40 m, 19 July 1984, M.H. Grayum et al. 3563 ( MO!) ; Finca La Selva, the OTS field station on the Río Puerto Viejo just E of its junction with the Río Sarapiquí, 10°25’53”N 084°00’13”W, 100 m, 27 October 1982, T. McDowell 612 ( DUKE!) ; Sarapiqui . La Selva Biological Station, 10°25’53”N 084°00’13”W, 100 m, 24 Marzo 1983, I. Chacón G. 552 ( MO!) ; Near Puerto Viejo along road near the Río Sucio , 10°27’36”N 083°59’24”W, 20 m, 27 May 1976, T.B. Croat 35701 ( MO!) ; Limón. Río Tercero , 600 m, 2 May 1985, (Fr.), J. Berrocal 77 ( CR!) ; Pococí, Colorado, R.N. V.S. Barra del Colorado, Forests and pastures between Río Chirripocito and pastures between Río Chirripocito and Río Sardina (”Sardinal” on Chirripó Atlántico quadrangle), 12 m, 20 April 1990, (Fr.), M.H. Grayum 9779 ( CR!, MO!); Pococí, Roxana, Mata de Limón , (incorrectly identified on Agua Fría quadrangle as Milloncito”) ca. 16. 5 km (as the crow flies) NE of Cariari, 21 m, 19 March 1988, (Fl.), M.H. Grayum & R. Robles 8523 ( CR!, MO!) ; Talamanca, Cahuita, Forest between Punta Manzanillo and Punta Mona, E of Manzanillo de Talamanca, 10 m, 2 May 1985, (Fr.), M.H. Grayum & G. Schatz 5247 ( CR!, MO!) ; Talamanca, Sixaola, Finca Asacode , Sendero La Chonta , 5 m, 2 March 1999, (Fl.), U. Chavarría 1908 ( CR!) ; Talamanca, Sixaola, Low-lying coastal swamps and forests, Gandoca (slightly to N of trail from Mata de Limón), 1 m, 27 January 1987, (Fr.), M.H. Grayum 8022 ( CR!, MO!) ; Talamanca, Cahuita, Bosques de Manzanillo , 50 m, 9 January 2017, (Infer.), M. Cedeño et al. 1102 ( USJ!) ; Pococí, Colorado, Lomas de Sierpe , 5 km Noreste de La Aurora, Guápiles, Cerca del Río Sierpe, 30 m, 8 December 1988, (Infer.), R. Robles 2239 ( CR!, MO!) ; Along road between Limón and Shiroles, along Río Sixaola, 0.9 mi SW of Bambu, 6.5 mi SW of Bribri. Along stream on steep slope, 09°33’00”N 082°53’24”W, 50 m, 12 August 1977, T.B. Croat 43302 ( MO!) ; Limón . Near Liverpool, 09°59’N 083°08’W, 30 m, 05 Oct 1972, Michael T. Madison 753 ( SEL!) . PANAMA. Bocas del Toro: Bosque Protector Palo Seco . Finca Willie Mazu, 08°46’43”N 082°12’32”W, 1047 m, 25 August 2018, O. Orlando et al. 3367 ( MO!)

Figures

FIGURE 18. Monstera costaricensis from Sarapiquí, Costa Rica. (A) Adult plant. (B) Developing infructescence with warty persistent peduncle and cataphylls, with wavy margin (arrow). (C) Persistent warty cataphylls with a wavy margin (left arrow); warty prophyll with a wavy margin (right arrow); warts on both surfaces are white or greenish. (D) Infructescence with pyramidal and conical styles (arrow). M. Cedeño et al. 1497 (USJ). Image from Cedeño-Fonseca et al. (2022).

FIGURE 19. Monstera costaricensis from Manzanillo, Costa Rica. (A) Stem segment with short and long internodes, covered by white warts; leaves removed from base. (B) Stem segment and petioles with white warts (arrow). (C) Base of the blade decurrent onto the geniculum and slightly wavy (arrow i); petiole sheath markedly wavy (arrow ii). M. Cedeño et al. 1102 (USJ). Image from Cedeño- Fonseca et al. (2022).