Features

A tropical plant that bears a most delectable fruit has been parading as a mere houseplant. Its a common houseplant, and you may even be growing it. Perhaps you grow it under the unassuming name of split-leaf philodendron, or the more descriptive name of Swiss-cheese plant. The plant is really a philodendron look-alike with the botanical name Monstera deliciosa. 

Monster can have rather monstrous leaves, and that may be how it got that part of its name. Along the edges of Mexicos steamy, tropical jungles, wild monsteras grow leaves that are a foot or more across. In that bright, dappled light, the leaves are pocked with large holes much like Swiss cheese, and also are cut deeply in along their edges. Indoor growing conditions are often not good enough for the leaves to develop large size or holes. 

The name monstera could have come about because of the size of the plant itself. In a tropical forest, this vine will grasp a tree trunk with its aerial roots, then clamber 30 feet or more skyward.  

Still, monstera is one of the easiest houseplants to grow – another similarity, besides leaf shape and vining habit, it shares with philodendrons. The better the growing conditions, the better the plant looks.  

Except in summer, monsteras love high humidity and as much light as possible. Being truly tropical, the plants prefer year-round heat; not mere warmth, but heat. 

With good growing conditions, a monstera vine needs support. One way to provide support is to roll up a length of chicken wire, pack it full of coarse sphagnum moss, then stake that mossy column next to the plant. This sphagnum moss cylinder increases the humidity near the plant and provide moist support to which the aerial roots can cling. The plant is almost as happy climbing any rough piece of wood. 

What about that “deliciosa” fruit? The ripe fruits, which follow the spearlike flowers, look like a cross between an ear of corn and a pine cone. The fruit must be dead ripe before it can be eaten, at which point the flavor is a tasty blend of pineapple and banana. Although a monstera plant is very easy to grow, its hard to bring it to bear fruit without a tropical climate or a perpetually warm greenhouse. 

Lee Reich is a columnist for The Associated Press