Monstera deliciosa
species of plant
Monstera deliciosa, the Swiss cheese plant or split-leaf philodendron, is a species of flowering plant. The common name "Swiss cheese plant" is also used for the related species from the same genus, Monstera adansonii. The common name "split-leaf philodendron" is also used for the species Philodendron bipinnatifidum.
Monstera deliciosa is native to tropical forests of southern Mexico, south to Panama. It has been introduced to many tropical areas, and considered a low-to-moderate invasion risk in Hawaii, Seychelles, Ascension Island and the Society Islands. It is very widely grown in temperate zones as a houseplant. Although the plant contains insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which cause a needlelike sensation when touched, the ripe fruit is edible.
Names
The specific epithet deliciosa means "delicious", referring to the edible fruit. The genus Monstera is named from the Latin word for "monstrous" or "abnormal", and refers to the unusual leaves with natural holes that members of the genus have.
Its popular name as a houseplant of "Swiss cheese plant", or just "cheese plant", is commonly stated to refer to the "eyes" or holes that develop in its leaves similar to the holes in some Swiss-type cheeses such as Emmental cheese.
“Monstera deliciosa” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Monstera, deliciosa and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Monstera deliciosa” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Monstera, deliciosa and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q161077. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Monstera deliciosa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.