Bushbernie's Garden
Swiss Cheese Plant or Fruit Salad Plant
Genus: Monstera.
Species: Monstera deliciosa.
Stunning foliage plant ideal for shaded areas.
The vine has a thick stem growing up to 20 m in height, and large, leathery, glossy, heart-shaped leaves 25 – 90 cm long by 25 – 75 cm broad. Each leaf is uniquely shaped.
On young plants the leaves are smaller and have no holes or lobes, but older plants soon produce lobed and holed leaves.
The inflorescence looks like a giant arum lily. It is a 20 – 30 cm long spathe and spadix; the spathe is creamy white or green.
The spadix takes a little over a year to mature. It swells into an aromatic fruit that looks a little like a green corn cob. It has a yellow-green, violet-spotted rind of hexagonal plates covering a creamy-white, soft pulp.
The ripened fruit has a pineapple-banana smell and a fruit salad taste. When mature, the fruit has a yellow-green, violet spotted rind of hexagonal plates covering a creamy white, soft pulp. If left on the vine, the whole fruit does not generally ripen all at once, but can be eaten bit by bit as it ripens from the outside end.
Fruit is slow to ripen, almost a year and is just as unique as the foliage, sweet, juicy with an almost prickly feel.
