Monstera deliciosa

Fashions in houseplants have waxed and waned in the UK over the last six decades, with a recent upsurge in their popularity, but of the millions of people who have lived at some time in a home with a Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa), very few will have seen one produce fruit. This is rare indoors. Now is your chance, for the magnificent mature specimen in the Pavilions has started to fruit.

The self-pollinating upright flower grows within a thick white spathe and develops over a year into the ripe fruit. As it ripens the fruit emits an increasingly strong scent which stops when fully ripe. The taste is said to be like a combination of pineapple and banana and the plant has the specific epithet ‘deliciosa’ because it tastes so good.

However, when immature the fruit contains oxalic acid which causes severe irritation if ingested. The species name, Monstera, refers to the huge size of the leaves which are entire when young becoming ever more deeply cut and perforated with age. The plant spreads when the rope-like aerial roots become fixed in the ground.

In its native range, South Mexico to Panama, Monstera deliciosa grows to 20m but the specimen here has reached its maximum size. It’s located in the west ridge and furrow area of the Pavilions along with other plants from Central and South America.