Monstera egregia Schott, 1864

Croat, Thomas B., Cedeño-Fonseca, Marco & Ortiz, Orlando O., 2024, Revision of Monstera (Araceae: Monsteroideae) of Central America, Phytotaxa 656 (1), pp. 1-197 : 73-76

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/phytotaxa.656.1.1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13365783
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/23768787-FFF1-4409-DFC2-FA3EFDF8F9EA
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Monstera egregia Schott
status

Treatment

16. Monstera egregia Schott View in CoL , Journal of Botany, British and Foreign 2: 53–54. 1864. ( Figs. 30 View FIGURE 30 , 31 View FIGURE 31 )

Type: — Mexico (v. v. cult .!) [cultivated plant]. Neotype (designated here): Mexico, Veracruz, 8 km. south of Misantla, Lauraceae Forest , 750 m., 26 Dec 1971, M. Madison 597 ( GH! two sheets: 02286762 and 02286700).

Robust nomadic vine, appressed-climbing habit. SEEDLINGS: bearing foliose leaves. JUVENILE PLANTS: root climbers; stems dark green with white dots, smooth, cylindrical; internodes 3–8 cm long, 4–7 mm diam.; petiole distinct, light green, smooth, 6–15 cm long, sheathed to base of the geniculum; petiole sheath persistent and distally involute; blades lanceolate, attenuate to truncate at base, acuminate, subcoriaceous, 8–15 × 5–12 cm, not appressed to the phorophyte; fenestrations absent or present. ADULT PLANTS: root climbers; stems dark green or light brown, smooth, cylindrical; internodes 0.3–5.0 cm long, 1.5–5.5 cm diam., 0.2–0.9 times as long as wide; anchor roots light brown; feeder roots black; petioles light green with white dots or white punctations, smooth, 45.0– 66.5 cm long, sheathed to base of the lamina, less frequently to base of the geniculum; petiole sheath persistent, distally open; geniculum 2.0– 3.5 cm long; blades ovate, unequal and rounded at base, short-acuminate at apex, subcoriaceous, drying dark brown to blackened above, paler and yellow-brown to dark brown below, 40–76 × 18.5–32.0 cm, 1.9–2.4 times longer than wide, not decurrent on the geniculum; midrib ribbed adaxially, convex abaxially, drying black or yellowish on both surfaces, primary lateral veins 12–24 per side, strongly sunken adaxially, prominent abaxially, departing midrib at 40–60°, drying generally darker, sometimes paler; secondary veins moderately parallel and indistinct, collective veins not visible; fenestrations absent or present, ellipsoid when present; margins entire. INFLORESCENCES on ascending stems, 1 or 2 simultaneously at flowering time, arranged in the leaf axils; peduncle smooth, 22–25 cm long; spathe long-acuminate, light green during development, creamy-yellow externally and white internally at anthesis, deciduous after anthesis, 14–20 × 7–13 cm, up to 5 cm longer than spadix; spadix white (during development and at anthesis), (11) 15–20 cm long, 3.0– 4.5 cm diam., 5.1 times longer than wide; basal sterile flowers 4–6 mm long, with a reddish-brown stigmatic secretion; fertile flowers 5–7 mm long; stamens 2–8 mm long, with laminar filaments; anthers 1.5–2.0 mm long; ovary rectangular in longitudinal section, ribbed, 2.5–3.5 × 1.0– 1.5 mm; style hexagonal, 3–4 × 3–4 mm; stigmatophore slightly columnar and sunken on style, 0.3–0.5 mm long; stigma linear, with a reddish-brown stigmatic secretion; berries with a white stylar cap during development, mature stylar cap creamy; pulp white; seeds 11–15 mm long.

Distribution and ecology: — Monstera egregia is known from Mexico (ranging from Veracruz to Oaxaca, Tabasco) and Belize, (Toledo) at 100–1500 m, in Tropical moist forest and Premontane wet forest life zones.

Phenology: —Flowering registered January to May and October-November. Fruiting in January to March, June, July, August, October and November.

Discussion: —The species, a member of sect. Monstera , is recognized by its fully sheathed densely speckled petioles, large entire and non-perforate to markedly perforate leaves with the perforations with mostly a single row on each side, 12–24 primary lateral veins per side, with 2–4 of these aggregated within 2 cm of the base as well as by the long-pedunculate inflorescence (22–25 cm long) and by having the margins of the style prominently raised on drying.

Monstera egregia was confused with M. standleyana but that species is restricted to Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, and differs by its light green and mottled petioles (vs. dark green petioles with slightly wavy wings), fenestrated leaves (vs. usually without fenestrations), stigmatophore slightly columnar and sunken on style (vs. stigmatophore columnar) and stigma linear (vs. stigma circular).

Nomenclatural remarks:— In the original protologue of M. egregia, Schott (1864) included the description and some information on the original locality of the species, which he cited as follows: “ Mexico (v. v. cult .!).” This suggests that the species was described using a cultivated plant which came from Mexico.

Engler & Krause (1908), in their revision of the Monsteroideae , cited M. egregia (as a synonym of M. karwinskyi ) and referring H. W. Schott’s Icones Aroideae et Reliquiae ( Schott 1984). Madison (1977), in his revision of Monstera , argued that illustrations No. 2238 and 2239 in Schott (1984) could represent the type material of M. egregia .

We only managed to have access to illustration No. 2238 which includes three color drawings: (top left) the base of the leaf blade and the upper part of the petiole; (in the middle) the lower surface of the leaf blade and part of petiole; (bottom right) the adaxial part of a portion of the petiole. There is also a fourth pencil drawing (probably made later by Schott?) of the cross section of the petiole. Additionally, in the lower right part of the illustration there are two names annotated by Schott himself ( M. karwinskyi and M. egregia ), where traces of erased pencil writings can be observed, as well as pen annotations that overwrite both erased and penciled remnants. Based on our observations, we concluded that the following may have occurred: (1) the author initially thought with some doubt that this plant was M. karwinskyi , so he made a pencil annotation as “ Monstera karwinskyi ?”; (2) subsequently, the author changed his mind and crossed out the first identification and then noted (above the epithet karwinskyi) ” egregia ”;(3) finally, the author changed his judgment again back to M. karwinskyi , so he decided to overwrite the annotations made in pencil and wrote “ karwinskyi ” in ink.

After deeply examining the morphological characteristics of illustration No. 2238, we concluded that it matches perfectly with the characters included in the original protologue of M. egregia and not with those of M. karwinskyi . It could be that the illustration No. 2238 fit flawlessly with the original description contained in the protologue of M. egregia ; however, since the illustrations lack significant information, such as dates, it cannot be certain that Schott used it when described the species, so the illustration No. 2238 could not be considered as a holotype or lectotype (see Coelho & Mayo 2007). We tried to trace some original material in the visited/reviewed herbaria, however, we did not have any success. This could be due to the fact that the plant was described when alive and an herbarium specimen was never made. No material of this species was listed by Riedl & Riedl-Dorn (1988) as having been destroyed. Due to the absence of an original material, we designate the specimen M. Madison 597 (GH, two sheets: 02286762 and 02286700) as neotype.

Additional specimens examined: — MEXICO. Chiapas: Escuintla. About 8.5 miles NE of Escuintla on gravel road to El Triunfo, 15°20’52”N 092°34’05”W, 250 m, 21 Aug 1977, T.B. Croat 43828 (MO!); Palenque. 5 miles SE of Palenque, on road to Chancala, Ocosingo and San Cristóbal de las Casas, 17°28’12”N 091°57’36”W, 200 m, 4 Jul 1977, T.B. Croat 40139 (MO!); Guerrero: San Luis Acatlán. Vicinity of Yoloxochitl, 2.4 E (airline KM), Arroyo que conduce Paraje El Ruidoso, 16°48’36”N 098°42’26”W, 460 m, 24 October 2017, T.B. Croat 107052 (CUVC, MO); Oaxaca: [Mun. San Juan Bautista Valle Nacional]. 4.5 mi S of Valle Nacional, on steep hills above Highway 175 between Tuxtepec and Oaxaca, 17°43’48”N 096°19’12”W, 430 m, 29 Jun 1977, T.B. Croat 39736 (MO!); [Mun. San Juan Bautista Valle Nacional]. One-half mile S of Valle Nacional, on steep hills over Highway 175 between Tuxtepec and Oaxaca, 17°46’12”N 096°18’00”W, 120 m, 29 Jun 1977, T.B. Croat 39705 (MO!); Uxpanapa Region, along gravel road from Esmeralda (17 km E of Sarabia) to Río Verde, 1.1 mi S of Esmeralda. Edge of pasture and in forest on karst limestone formation on steep slopes with cliffs. Veg. type: ”selva alta perennifolia”, 100 m, 18 Jan 1987, T.B. Croat & D.P. Hannon 63209 (G, MO, RSA, W); Along Hwy 175 between Tuxtepec and Oaxaca, 13 km S of bridge over Río San Juan Bautista at Valle Nacional, 17°43’05”N 096°18’35”W, 747 m, 3 Mar 2008, T.B. Croat & P. Díaz-Jiménez 100176 (MO!); Tuxtepec. Mun. San Juan Bautista Valle Nacional. Along Highway 175 through Sierra de Juarez between Tuxtepec and Oaxaca, 1.49 miles S of bridge at Valle Nacional, 17°39’36”N 096°19’48”W, 1400 m, 19 February 1979, T.B. Croat 48005 (MO!); Mun. San Juan Bautista Valle Nacional. Along Highway 175 through Sierra de Juárez between Tuxtepec and Oaxaca, 18.4 mi S of bridge at Valle Nacional at ca. km 140, 17°37’48”N 096°20’24”W, 1500 m, 19 February 1979, T.B. Croat 48069 (MO!); Mun. San Juan Bautista Valle Nacional. Along Highway 175 through Sierra de Juarez between Tuxtepec and Oaxaca, 1.49 miles S of bridge at Valle Nacional, 17°39’36”N 096°19’48”W, 1400 m, 19 February 1979, T.B. Croat 47987A (MO!); Puebla: Zacapoaxtla, San Juan Tahitic. A 20 minutos de la finca, caminando en la verde que va para Huaxkouta, 19°56’44”N 097°32’08”W, 1263 m, 22 January 2015, C. Ledesma & A.S. Hernández 20586 (MO!); Cuauhtémoc. En un sitio llamado La Curva, a 15 minutos del cen de Cuauhtémoc, 20°03’30”N 097°25’38”W, 226 m, 19 November 2015, M. Jiménez & M. Gorostiza 31070 (MO!); Cuetzalan del Progreso. San Miguel Tzinacapan Village on path SW from San Miguel Tzinacapan, ca. 2.25 km toward Masa: owatah and Ista:ka:t, vicinity of campsite, 20°00’57”N 097°33’23”W, 700 m, 04 November 2017, T.B. Croat 107317 (MO!); Hueyapan. Saliendo de Nexpan tomando la carretera a Tezuitlan pasando el entronque a Las Gardenias, un pueblo pequeño y siguiendo la carretera hasta una brecha. El lugar se Llama Kwechko. A 15 o 20 minutos de Nexpan por toda la carretera, 19°56’02”N 097°23’20”W, 1248 m, 08 March 2016, J.D. Amith et al. 82019 (MO!); Zacapoaxtla. San Juan Tahitic Village, trail to Zapotepic, locality Hueyaktepet, next to Arroya de Huaxkonta, 19°57’01”N 097°31’52”W, 1165 m, 02 November 2017, T.B. Croat 107306 (MO!); Zongozotla. Ca. 6 km from center of town on road to Santa Elena, 19°58’05”N 097°44’04”W - 19°58’44”N 097°44’11”W, 1090– 1079 m, 05 November 2017, T.B. Croat 107406 (MO!, PMA!); Tabasco: Tacotalpa. R/a Madrigal 5ta, Sierra el Madrigal, 17°30’20”N 092°49’55”W, 200 m, 23 March 2009, P. Díaz-Jiménez & A.M. de la Cruz 727 (MO!); Teapa. Muy cerca del municipio de Teapa del estado de Tabasco. Chiapas, 17°28’07”N 092°51’15”W, 720 m, 20 July 2009, P. Díaz-Jiménez & A.M. de la Cruz 839 (MO!); Veracruz: Veracruz: San Andrés Tuxtla, camino al ejido Ruiz Cortínez, 18°31’19”N 095°09’01”W, 1171 m, 06 March 2020, P. Díaz Jiménez et al. 1457C (HEM!); Jardin Botanico de la Ebiolotu, 18°28’12”N 094°58’48”W, 17 enero 1972, A. Lot 1728 (MEXU!, MO!); Along road from San Andres Tuxtla to Ruiz Cortinez, 12 km above turn-off in San Andrez Tuxtla, 18°31’20”N 095°08’53”W, 1136 m, 06 March 2008, T.B. Croat & P. Díaz-Jiménez 100357 (MO!); Alto Lucero. El Guaya-billal al sureste Rancho Nuevo, 19°46’00”N 096°41’00”W, 1900 m, 08 April 1981, G. Castillo & F. Vazquez 1447 (F); Hidalgotitlán. m, G. Castillo-Campos 341 (XAL!); Huatusco. ”El Mirador”, 21 km E of Huatusco at Km 45 along Highway to Puente National, 19°12’36”N 096°52’12”W, 1200 m, 23 August 1977, T.B. Croat 44022 (MO!); Jesús Carranza. Lomas al S de Pob. 2 (+/- 6 km al S de entronque de terracería La Laguna-Sarabia con camino que va al N a Pob. 2) en nuevo camino a Ejido La Paz; lomerío, suelos prof, selva alta perennifolia con Dialium, Terminalia , Licania sparsipilis , L. hypoleuca , Hirtella triandra, Symphonia , Guarea grandifolia, Calophyllum , Sloanea meianthera , etc., 17°12’N 094°38’W, 200 m, 2 Jul 1987, T.L. Wendt et al. 5777 (MO!); Las Choapas. m, E. López 218 (XAL!); Minatitlán. Uspanapas, 14 km E of Campamento La Laguna (Poblado D.S.), 7.5 km N along small road through Rubber Plantation; in forest on limestone crags, 17°18’36”N 094°24’00”W, 150 m, 7 Oct 1986, B.E. Hammel & M. Merello 15562 (MO!, US!); Misantla. 8 km S of Misantla on road to Xalapa. Liquidambar montane rain forest, 19°52’48”N 096°51’36”W, 750 m, 20 Dec 1971, M.T. Madison 582 (SEL!); 8 km S of Misantla on road to Xalapa, 19°52’48”N 096°51’36”W, 750 m, 20 Dec 1971, M.T. Madison 587 (SEL!); Lauracea forest, 8 km S of Misantla on road to Xalapa, 19°52’48”N 096°51’36”W, 21 Dec 1971, M.T. Madison 591 (SEL!); Lauraceae forest , 8 km S of Misantla, on the road to Xalapa, 19°52’48”N 096°51’36”W, 21 Dec 1971, Michael T. Madison 590 (SEL!); Pajapan. m, G. Castillo-Campos et al. 13355 (XAL!); San Andrés Tuxtla. m, G.A. Salazar 210 (MEXU!); m, G. Ibarra et al. 2138 (MEXU!); m, G. Ibarra & L. Cortés 501 Estación de Biología Tropical Los Tuxtlas, N of San Andrés Tuxtla between Sontecomapan and Montepio.Along broad trail and new border road through virgin forest. Veg. type: ”selva alta perennifolia”, 18°34’48”N 095°03’36”W, 150–200 m, 17 Jan 1987, T.B. Croat & D.P. Hannon 63160 (AAU, ENCB!, KRAM, M, MO!, RSA, SAR, Z); Soteapan. m, J.I. Calzada 5144 (XAL!); Yecuatla. Along a very winding road from Naolinco to Misantla, 13 km. by road S of turnoff to Yecuatla and 6 km. by road N of Paz de Enríquez. Mun. Yecuatla, 19°51’00”N 096°48’30”W, 1200 m, 02 April 1983, M.H. Nee et al. 26363 (F); Zongolica. Wooded area on the north side of airdrone Campo Experimental de Hule, El Palmar, 19 Nov 1944 – 20 Nov 1944, J.V. Santos 3635 (MICH, MO). BELIZE. Toledo: Limestone hills of the central Bladen Nature Reserve, Maya Mountains. Creekside in forest on alluvium, 16°29’41”N 088°54’43”W, 260 m, 15 March 2011, S.W. Brewer et al. 5706 (BRH!, MO!).