Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Monstera spruceana; photograph (c) Fabian Brambach, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Fabian Brambach, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2008-03-21

Monstera spruceana (Schott) Engl.

Araceae · Costa Rica, Panama +9 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Monstera spruceana, photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Monstera spruceana, photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Monstera spruceana, photograph (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Monstera spruceana, photograph (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Monstera spruceana, photograph (c) Fabian Brambach, some rights reserved (CC BY)Monstera spruceana, photograph (c) Fabian Brambach, some rights reserved (CC BY) 27 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
19.1°C
Record low 15.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,786mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
26–34DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Monstera spruceana is a species of plant in the genus Monstera native to Central and South America from Costa Rica to Bolivia. Named after Richard Spruce, Monstera spruceana is a climbing plant that as a juvenile has a shingling growth habit against the trunks of trees, then in maturity develops pinnate leaves, though only one side may be pinnate. The adult form of this species closely resembles Monstera subpinnata and Monstera dilacerata. The plant is used as traditional medicine by the Shuar and Kichwa people.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Monstera spruceana", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Monstera

Monstera is a genus of 59 species of flowering plants in the arum family, Araceae, native to tropical regions of central and south America.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Monstera", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Monstera in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “climber”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,153 mm of 2,976 mm) takes 8 months, January to June and October to November. Mean temperature moves 1.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,976 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,153 mm of it January to June and October to November. Wettest month May at 350 mm, driest month August at 177 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,020 mm to 4,345 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,786 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,976 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 19.1 °C, the absolute minimum 15.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 21.1 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 19.2 °C to 23.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.4 °C in October (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 66 to 70% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -51 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Monstera in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “climber”, “wet tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Monstera spruceana through the yearWarmest months January, February, March, April, August, September, October, November and December, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 21.1 °C; 2,976 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°31.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER15.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 26–34RH 66–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 116 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C29 / 27–3029 / 27–3129 / 27–3029 / 27–3028 / 27–2928 / 26–3028 / 26–3029 / 26–3129 / 26–3229 / 26–3229 / 26–3129 / 26–30
Night °C23 / 20–2323 / 20–2423 / 20–2422 / 20–2422 / 20–2422 / 20–2321 / 19–2322 / 20–2322 / 20–2322 / 20–2422 / 20–2422 / 20–24
Rain mm235 / 55–357231 / 96–346260 / 151–325302 / 181–428350 / 98–503284 / 42–485219 / 43–474177 / 45–407215 / 68–417245 / 74–476246 / 102–396212 / 119–337
DLI31 / 25–3430 / 27–3530 / 28–3528 / 26–3226 / 24–3026 / 22–3129 / 23–3333 / 25–3634 / 25–3933 / 25–3931 / 24–3430 / 26–32
RH %68 / 62–7269 / 60–7169 / 63–7270 / 65–7370 / 66–7469 / 65–7468 / 61–7367 / 59–7366 / 61–7267 / 61–7269 / 64–7269 / 65–72
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 116 grid cells holding the 170 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1832:2080 (-1.625, -75.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 15.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 116 distinct grid cells holding 170 of the 170 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1832:2080 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.50_-76.250, lapse-corrected -51 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 191 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCosta Rica, Panama, French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil North · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-0.5, -76.433 · in the densest population, 192 records (44% of those in range)
Kew's description“climber” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 435 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 170 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 289 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 828 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 265 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 435 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Monstera spruceana, photograph 1did not loadMonstera spruceana, photograph 2did not loadMonstera spruceana, photograph 3did not loadMonstera spruceana, photograph 4did not loadMonstera spruceana, photograph 5did not loadMonstera spruceana, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Fabian Brambach, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Heliconia chartacea Heliconia chartacea Pink flamingo heliconia Photo: CC BY, AidanAnthurium eminens Anthurium eminens Araceae Photo: CC BY, fern WildtruthAnthurium gracile Anthurium gracile Red Pearls Anthurium Photo: CC BY, Letizia WeichgrebeCecropia membranacea Cecropia membranacea Urticaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, MK MalikMinquartia guianensis Minquartia guianensis Black Manwood Photo: CC BY, Eduardo Chacón MadrigalAechmea chantinii Aechmea chantinii Amazonian Zebra-plant Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Monstera 13 in the reference

Monstera acuminata Monstera acuminata Araceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezMonstera adansonii Monstera adansonii Adanson's monstera Photo: CC BY, Matteo BellucciMonstera deliciosa Monstera deliciosa Swiss cheese plant Photo: CC BY, Trevor Van LoonMonstera dubia Monstera dubia Shingles plant Photo: CC BY, River AhlquistMonstera epipremnoides Monstera epipremnoides Araceae Photo: CC0, author not statedMonstera lechleriana Monstera lechleriana Araceae Photo: CC BY, Martha Lucia Ortiz-MorenoMonstera obliqua Monstera obliqua Window-Leaf Monstera Photo: CC BY, Yuri SofronovMonstera pinnatipartita Monstera pinnatipartita Araceae Photo: CC0, author not statedMonstera siltepecana Monstera siltepecana Silver monstera Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresMonstera standleyana Monstera standleyana Araceae Photo: CC BY, Eric KnightMonstera tacanaensis Monstera tacanaensis Araceae Photo: CC BY, Trevor Van LoonMonstera tenuis Monstera tenuis Araceae Photo: CC BY, Aaron Liston all 14 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Monstera steyermarkii; Tornelia spruceana. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Araceae
Described by
(Schott) Engl.
Native to
Costa Rica, Panama, French Guiana +8
Wild records
435 in range · 289 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.50_-76.250, lapse-corrected -51 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 55 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…