MONSTERA DELICIOSA. 



plant is a native of Mexico, and forms a fine object in a large stove, where it 

 will grow luxuriantly and fruit profusely. Its magnificent shining dark green 

 leaves are divided in a singular manner, and the plant is highly ornamental. The fruit 

 is oblong, about 12 to 14 inches in length, sometimes rather curved, deep sage 

 green in colour, and marked all over the surface by hexagonal meshes. Fine specimens 

 measure 6 to 8 inches in circumference. The fruit should not be eaten before it is quite 

 ripe and the heads of the ovaries can be easily removed. The pulp is soft, rich and 

 luscious. 



Monstera deliciosa (Philodendron pertusum) is readily propagated by cutting the 

 stems into convenient lengths, potting, and growing in moist heat. 



It thrives well if planted on a well-drained mound of rich soil, against the damp wall 

 of a stove, to which the plant attaches itself firmly by the long aerial roots. It also 

 succeeds against the back wall of a banana house (page 95, Yol. II.). Colonel K. Trevor 

 Clarke, Welton Place, Daventry, has superb specimens in a large, lofty stove conservatory. 

 The plants have become attached to portions of the trunks of hardwood trees stripped of 

 the bark, fixed erect between water- tanks ; mounds of rich open soil over good drainage 

 at the base of the trunks afford anchorage for the plants ; and the aerial roots clasp the 

 trunks and descend in long, spotted, snake-like form into the tanks ; this they seem to 

 enjoy as they do the water which is made to trinkle down the wooden columns by pouring 

 it on the top and keeping them moist during the summer. The plants have also plenty 

 of space with abundance of light ; under which circumstances they grow freely and fruit 

 abundantly. 



It is only in large structures that the monstera can develop its wealth of beauty, but 

 it may be grown in pots. Drain a large, say, 18-inch pot a quarter of its depth, place a 

 part of a tree trunk about half the diameter of the pot in its centre, with a well-rooted 

 plant, in a mixture of rough fibrous loam and turfy peat in about equal parts. With 

 ample space for growth and adequate supplies of water, it makes a noble specimen. 

 "Winter temperature, 60 ; summer, 65 to 85, with a moist atmosphere. 



VOL. III. E 



