regnum-plantae:Monstera deliciosa, AraceaeYou really wouldn’t tell there’s snow outside looking at h
regnum-plantae:Monstera deliciosa, AraceaeYou really wouldn’t tell there’s snow outside looking at how unperturbed this Monstera deliciosa, often misleadingly sold with the common name ‘split-leaf philodendron’, is going about flowering and fruiting under the glass panels of the Winter Gardens. Native to the tropical forests of Mexico and Central America, it is a loved and well known plant often grown indoors in temperate climates. Its fenestrated (=full of holes), uniquely shaped, massive leaves and the evident stages of reproduction are proof this plant already reached maturity well under 10 metres long (or tall, but it’s a vine), while it can grow three times more when climbing a tree to get closer to the canopy. The Monstera at Glasgow Botanic Gardens is high up close to the glass ceiling probably 20 metres above me, so I’ve never managed to take a good photo. It would have been impossible to observe the edible fruit develop, different fruits at different stages actually. The dry, brown sheet which encloses the green fruit in the top and middle photos is what is left of the spathe, the conspicuous bract of Araceae flowers, and is eventually shed as you can see in the bottom photo. Now I know the fruits are there I will make sure to go back in time to see them ripening, and maybe get a chance to smell what is supposed to be a pungent fruity scent as unique as this plant is. Its specific epithet “deliciosa” means delicious in reference to the fruit, so I hope the smell is just as nice. -- source link
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