Monstera

What is a monstera?

Most people know the monstera as a houseplant with large, slit leaves. Outdoors in a warm climate it shows its other side: a vigorous climber that clings to trees with thick aerial roots, flowers like a calla with a cream-coloured spathe, and produces a long fruit whose fully ripe pulp is among the more unusual fruits of the tropics.

Origin and growth

Monstera deliciosa comes from the wet forests of southern Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama. There it begins life on the forest floor and climbs towards the light up tree trunks, reaching nine metres or more. Without support it spreads over the ground. The leaves of young plants are whole; with age they grow larger and develop the characteristic slits and holes. The aerial roots anchor the stem and take up water and nutrients.

Requirements

Cold. Morton calls the plant strictly tropical and unable to tolerate frost. In cool weather it stands still; a sheltered spot where cold air does not collect is essential.

Water. High demand. The plant likes humid air and evenly moist soil; in a dry summer it needs regular water and mulch.

Soil. Loose, rich in humus, well drained.

Light. Half shade suits it best, as in its native forest. Full summer sun burns the leaves.

Fruit, use and harvest

The fruit, botanically a cob of many fused berries, is 20 to 30 cm long and usually seedless. It needs 12 to 14 months from flowering to ripeness. It is cut when the scales at the base begin to lift, and ripens over a few days from one end to the other. Only sections where the scales fall away easily are eaten. Unripe parts, flower remnants and all other parts of the plant contain calcium oxalate crystals that irritate mouth, throat and skin. Morton also reports hives and anaphylaxis in some people after eating the fruit; even ripe fruit is therefore tried in small amounts first.

In the food forest

In a food forest the monstera fills two places at once: the shade layer beneath trees and the climber layer up their trunks. It is one of the few fruiting plants that prefer half shade, so it can use the space under a light canopy that sun-loving crops leave empty. Young plants depend on shelter from wind, sun and cold, which taller nurse trees and bananas can provide. Its large leaves, when they die back, return to the soil as mulch.

In the Mediterranean climate

On Madeira, where the climate is mild and humid, the fruit is part of the island's regional produce and is sold at the market in Funchal. In coastal Sicily, especially around Palermo, it is reportedly known by a local name, zampa di leone, lion's paw; Italian garden writers note that outdoors in Sicily it occasionally bears fruit. In the Mediterranean the limits are winter cold, dry summer air and strong sun. Sheltered courtyards, the shade of trees and humid microclimates near water make the difference.

Where the climate suits it, monstera can escape. In eastern Australia it is occasionally naturalised along the coast and is treated as an environmental weed in New South Wales; it has also naturalised in places in New Zealand, and in Florida escapes from gardens have been recorded. Most wild plants grow where garden waste has been dumped. It is not on the EU list of invasive alien species. In practice, prunings stay on site and are composted or used as mulch, and are never dumped.

Propagation and care

Monstera is propagated from stem cuttings with a node and an aerial root, or from offshoots. According to Morton, offshoots bear fruit after two to four years, cuttings after four to six. Old leaves are removed, and the climbing stem is given a tree or a sturdy support.

How Terra Humana understands it

At Sa Medada the monstera is meant to show that the shaded floor beneath trees need not stay empty in a dry climate. A plant from the rainforest that grows in the open ground here points to what a closed canopy, moisture and protection could make possible on the slope over time.