Monstera siltepecana

not known

siltepecana = after Siltepec, Chiapas, the type locality

hemiepiphytic climbing pine trees in light locations at elevations of 1200-2500m in cloud forests

Monstera siltepecana was first collected in Guatemala in 1889 by John Donnell Smith. The specimen, consisting of a spatha, a flowering spadix, and a leaf, was determined by Engler to be Monstera pertusa var. iacquinii. Apparently Engler considered this material to be merely a range of a polymorphic species already known from southern Central America. In 1922, Monstera siltepecana was collected in El Salvador by Calderon, whose specimen was determined to as Monstera friedrichsthalii. This identification was adopted by later collectors and the species became commonly known as Monstera friedrichsthalii. In the 1930s and 1940s, Standley and Steyermark made extensive plant collections in Guatemala, including numerous specimens of this species. The results of their floristic studies were published in the Flora of Guatemala (1958), where they gave the name Monstera friedrichsthalii for this taxon and included Monstera siltepecana in the synonymy. In the meantime, other collections had extended the known range of the species to Mexico and Honduras.
The great difficulty in identification is the transformation of the leaf with increasing age. Only in young plants can the colourful, beautifully marbled leaves be found, in washed out plants the leaves are usually no longer distinguishable from other Monstera.