About Monstera acuminata K.Koch
Monstera acuminata germinates in the ground, growing horizontally as a low, prostrate herb. Juvenile plants are much smaller, with heart-shaped, thick, roundish, waxy leaves. These leaves grow in two overlapping ranks, while the juvenile stem is elliptic in cross section, has internodes 1–5 cm long, and bears asymmetric leaves. When the plant encounters a tree trunk, it uses its ageotropic anchoring roots to begin growing vertically. Leaf development that produces the mature form occurs once the plant reaches 15 feet in height, and this species shows leaf dimorphism; adult plants have a similar appearance to Monstera deliciosa. The mature stem is smooth or papillose, 2–3.5 cm thick, and has internodes 6–11 cm long. As a hemiepiphyte, after it grows upward into the tree, the base of its stem dies and rots away, and the plant loses its connection to the soil.
