Hi!

I was wondering if y'all could help me understand the different Adansonii. I've got a couple, including a Blanchetti, but I'm trying to understand the difference between the Blanchetti and the others... aside from inordinately large leaves, lol.

Please let me know if you have any knowledge on this subject!

Genus: Monstera
species: adansonii

Here's our database entry with photos and information: Swiss Cheese Philodendron (Monstera adansonii)

There are a few subspecies but I have no idea what the differences might be.
Monstera adansonii subsp. blanchetii
Monstera adansonii subsp. adansonii
Monstera adansonii subsp. klotzschiana
Monstera adansonii subsp. laniata

As far as I know, Monstera leaves grow larger as the plants mature and as they climb higher into the tree canopy.

Maybe @Gina1960 who is a knowledgeable Aroid grower can help.

Well, adansonii IS the species name. Genus Monstera species adansonii.
There are some subspecies as Lin has pointed out. One that she left out is M. adansonii var. laniata. The ssp. all have many synonyms, except that Monstera adansonii sip. adansonii IS just plain Monstera adansonii.

It is fairly hard for ME to tell the ssp. of Adansonii apart...if you really want to learn about them, you should read the 1977 papers 'A Revision of Monstera (Aracaea)' by Michael Madison, which gives drawings, botanical descriptions for differentiation, etc. I own Monstera adansonii, and Monstera adansonii var. laniata ( which is also called friedrichsthalii and several other synonyms). The trouble with identifying the sip. unless you are a true expert is that just the plain old adansonii has a high degree of natural morphological variation in the leaves. I can tell my laniata apart from my plain adansonii because the leaves are a lot wider.

The genus Monstera has not been revised again since Madison, but there is a partial revision in progress now by a gentleman named Marco Cedeno Fonseca centered in Colombia. He has worked with Dr. Alistair Hay and Dr. Thomas Croat. Details of his expeditions documenting Monstera species in Southern Mexico and Colombia have been written up in some of the 2019 and 2020 IAS newsletters.

I edited my post to add M. adansonii subsp. laniata.

These are some of my Monsteras. Some are new, some are old, very old LOL.
This is the form of M. adansonii (just the plain old one no subspecies) that is currently being sold. All of these come from tissue culture. There is great variability in the leaves. Note how the leaf surface has that sort of 'quilted' or 'matte' appearance caused by a preponderance of slightly raised secondary venation? And the leaf is fairly wide on the mature leaf.




This is the form of the SAME plant that was being sold 12-15 years ago. This one may, or may not, be a TC plant. I am actually not certain. I got my original plant as a trade. Note how it lacks the 'quilted' or 'matte' look, is more glossy, longer and more narrow. Although there is still variation on the leaves of this one, its mainly just in the size of the fenestrations. not the overall look of the leaf. These are the plants that gave rise to the belief that some of them were actually M. obliqua (because in the natural variation of the leaf some leaves had that thin thin connecting tissue with really big holes) but its not, its just plain adansonii.

This is M. adansonii ssp. laniata. Its leaves are over a lot larger than the regular adansonii and wider and it is glossy not matte


This is Monstera acacoyaguensis. This is the juvenile form. I recently got this in a trade. The mature leaves look different




And this is a very juvenile M. lecheriana just now starting to fenestrate


This is a cute little Monstera called M. subpinnata


This is a very interesting Monstera that is so far an undescribed species to the best of everyone who has it's knowledge. This plant came from the legendary aroidist Dewey Fisk, the 'Philodendron Phreaque'. Dewey sadly passed away last year. He said he got this Monstera in Panama. Some of us who were active trading partners with him about 11-12 years ago got cuttings of this plant. Those of us who have it just call it Dewey's Monstera. This is a juvenile leaf

another juvie


And some mature ones shot from below. The leaves on this get very large over time, but if it has to stop climbing, it reverts to the juvenile form very quickly

I have several other Monsteras that are not identified. Then of course regular deliciosa and variegated ones

Well I'm confused. Does that mean that the popular "wide leaf" is just called monstera adansonii and the "narrow leaf" is most likely monstera adansonii ssp. laniata?

no
It means unless you buy from or trade with a collector you won't be having ssp. laniata. The only adansonii available today to the mainstream plant buyer who does not seek out and pay bigger bucks for something else is the adansonii in photos 1 and 2

Still trying to process this...So "wide" and "narrow" varieties sold now are leaf just variations of the same plant? What the heck do I have, in other words, if I have two very different looking plants that are both Adansonii?

you have Adansonii Adrienne

Hi! I was wondering if you could ID this one for me… I thought it was perhaps Monstera adansonii subsp. blanchetii?
The leaves are huge!
Thanks!

How huge? Adansonii on its own can get pretty large. But I agree, it does look like subsp. blanchetii.

Gina1960 said:How huge? Adansonii on its own can get pretty large. But I agree, it does look like subsp. blanchetii.

Thanks so much for the reply! I will have to go measure them but they are huge! Also , I thought since they were "double paned", With the fenestration that was an Indication?

It does differentiate them from some other Monstera species

Gina1960 said:It does differentiate them from some other Monstera species

Hi, again…I went out with a measuring tape and the large ones that I could reach were about 24 inches long…
Here's another pic:

Yeah, I think it is pretty certain to be subsp. blanchetii. I don;t believe (but of course I may be wrong) that any of the other forms of adansonii get that large. Its synonym is M. maximiliani.

Gina1960 said:Yeah, I think its is pretty certain to be subsp. blanchetii. I don;t believe (but of course I may be wrong) that any of theater forms of adansonii get that large. Its synonym is M. maximiliani.

Thanks so very much for your help and all the information!
Best regards, ….everybody stay safe and healthy!