New Monstera Genus Revision
Donation protected
The genus Monstera, while well known in horticultural circles and on social media thanks to attractive and charismatic species like M. deliciosa and M. adansonii still remains one of the most poorly understood genera of neotropical aroids. Now for the first time in decades that has the potential to change!
Many of you who know me will understand my passion and enthusiasm for this group of plants. When I began collecting and traveling to go find them I was astonished at the complete lack of useful information that existed! The only revision that was ever done on this group of plants was over 40 years as part of a PHD project taken on by famous aroid researcher, Michael Madison who at the time only classified 22 sp for this incredibly diverse genus. Since then very limited work has been done on them, due in part to their high leaf variability through ontogeny and the fact that many of the useful features are lost during herbarium preparation.
Now finally one researcher in Costa Rica named Marcos Cedeño is in the final steps of completing his revision of the Monstera of Central America with the help of notable aroid researchers such as Tom Croat, Orlando Ortiz and Michael Grayum. This work will look at the whole of Central American but also at the two most diverse countries for monstera diversity, Costa Rica and Panama, the latter of which holds more than 60% of all known Monstera species.
This is a massive undertaking that Marco has been doing since we first met in Cali, Colombia back in 2017. Through meeting him as well as Alejandro Zuluaga and other young, passionate aroid researchers I was amazed and inspired at the level of interest and engagement with these greatly under appreciated and unknown species.
Now as it stands Marco requires only a small amount of money to fund an expedition to Panama to collect a few remaining species and to return to Missouri botanical garden where he can finish his research in the herbarium to complete this long awaited revision, almost 45 years overdue!
The amount he requires for this project is just shy of 3,500$ usd and my goal here is to help him the best way I can to ensure that this project finishes on a positive note and so this can be hailed as the most comprehensive document on the Monstera of Central America to be done since 1977.
This is my attempt to contribute to this groundbreaking research. Like so many ‘plant people’ out there the opportunity to contribute to scientific progress is limited and there is a serious disconnect between the two. Bridging this gap is essential to the survival of the study and my hope is to empower people to help become part of the research and to become part of solving these mysteries and to help understand more about these plants we all grow and appreciate so much. I get asked daily questions about Monstera and aroids, many of which I can’t answer myself, but there are scientists out there who are trying desperately to solve these questions and better understand our planet and it’s inhabitants and this is your opportunity to help them! Any amount you give is helpful and greatly appreciated and hopefully this project can continue our understanding of these plants we all love!
Many of you who know me will understand my passion and enthusiasm for this group of plants. When I began collecting and traveling to go find them I was astonished at the complete lack of useful information that existed! The only revision that was ever done on this group of plants was over 40 years as part of a PHD project taken on by famous aroid researcher, Michael Madison who at the time only classified 22 sp for this incredibly diverse genus. Since then very limited work has been done on them, due in part to their high leaf variability through ontogeny and the fact that many of the useful features are lost during herbarium preparation.
Now finally one researcher in Costa Rica named Marcos Cedeño is in the final steps of completing his revision of the Monstera of Central America with the help of notable aroid researchers such as Tom Croat, Orlando Ortiz and Michael Grayum. This work will look at the whole of Central American but also at the two most diverse countries for monstera diversity, Costa Rica and Panama, the latter of which holds more than 60% of all known Monstera species.
This is a massive undertaking that Marco has been doing since we first met in Cali, Colombia back in 2017. Through meeting him as well as Alejandro Zuluaga and other young, passionate aroid researchers I was amazed and inspired at the level of interest and engagement with these greatly under appreciated and unknown species.
Now as it stands Marco requires only a small amount of money to fund an expedition to Panama to collect a few remaining species and to return to Missouri botanical garden where he can finish his research in the herbarium to complete this long awaited revision, almost 45 years overdue!
The amount he requires for this project is just shy of 3,500$ usd and my goal here is to help him the best way I can to ensure that this project finishes on a positive note and so this can be hailed as the most comprehensive document on the Monstera of Central America to be done since 1977.
This is my attempt to contribute to this groundbreaking research. Like so many ‘plant people’ out there the opportunity to contribute to scientific progress is limited and there is a serious disconnect between the two. Bridging this gap is essential to the survival of the study and my hope is to empower people to help become part of the research and to become part of solving these mysteries and to help understand more about these plants we all grow and appreciate so much. I get asked daily questions about Monstera and aroids, many of which I can’t answer myself, but there are scientists out there who are trying desperately to solve these questions and better understand our planet and it’s inhabitants and this is your opportunity to help them! Any amount you give is helpful and greatly appreciated and hopefully this project can continue our understanding of these plants we all love!
Organizer
Mick Mittermeier
Organizer
Miami, FL
