Monstera Adans.

Overview

Monstera belongs to the arum family, Araceae; Kew gives its native range as Mexico to tropical America. The RHS describes these climbers as coming from the tropical forests of southern Mexico and South America; the one most grown indoors is M. deliciosa, which WCVP records as native to southern Mexico and Guatemala. Florists use its large divided leaves as cut foliage.

Classification and characters

Adanson published the genus in 1763. CATE Araceae describes evergreen climbing herbs whose leaves are often conspicuously and elaborately perforated; the spathe is boat-shaped, somewhat rolled at the base and white to rose inside; the spadix is stalkless, nearly cylindrical and a little shorter than the spathe; and the berry holds one to three seeds, shedding its prismatic style region when ripe, pulpy within.

The plate above, from the Berliner allgemeine Gartenzeitung (1857), is printed Monstera Lennea C. Koch, a synonym of M. deliciosa in WCVP.

Distribution

WCVP records the genus as native to 29 TDWG botanical regions and introduced in 10 more.

BelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasLeeward Is.Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestNetherlands AntillesNicaraguaPanamáPeruSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuelaWindward Is.

Introduced

AscensionAzoresBalearesBangladeshComorosCook Is.KoreaPuerto RicoSeychellesSociety Is.

Accepted species

WCVP accepts 73 species; names with × are natural hybrids. The count changes with revisions; checked 2026-10-24.

Historic plates

Plates in date order; the printed names are kept as they appear, current names are on the species pages and the topic page.

• 

  Dracontium pertusum

  Plantarum indigenarum et exoticarum icones ad vivum coloratae · 1791
  
• 

  Monstera Lennea C. Koch

  Berliner allgemeine Gartenzeitung · Taf. IV · 1857
  

Growing indoors and safety

The RHS notes that the heart-shaped leaves usually only show the characteristic holes once plants are a few years old, with more fenestrations once the plant is climbing; stems produce roots that attach to trees and support the climb, so indoors it benefits from a moss pole. It likes indirect light, as direct sun scorches the leaves; keep it at 18–25 °C all year, and let the compost become almost dry before watering thoroughly. The plants are poisonous: wear gloves when handling them and keep them away from children and pets.

Further reading

• Flower guide
• Reference library

References

1. WCVP · World Checklist of Vascular Plants (via ChecklistBank dataset 2232) · accessed 2026-10-24
2. Kew (POWO data on the ColPlanta site) · Monstera, with genus description from CATE Araceae
3. RHS · How to grow Swiss cheese plants