Monstera deliciousa

I was inspired by last week's posts, many of which featured indoor plants, to share some of the species I have at home.  First up is Monstera deliciosa or swiss cheese plants.  Though most people know this plant by its genus.

Monstera is actually a vine which explains whey I have several stakes propping this plant up.  In the wild it can scramble up hillsides and along the trunks of large trees.

 

Though it's native to Central America, I saw it everyhwere in Hawaii - in planned landscapes or growing along the sides of highways, vining up trees.  The plant is even somewhat iconic in Hawaii.  Below it's incorporated in a mural in the library of the Four Seasons Lodge at Koele.

And many would recognize its leaf used in patterns for Hawaiian quilts, like this one below:

However, it's not to be confused with split leaf Philodendron, or Philodendron pertusum, which looks quite similar.  In this shot, it's P. pertusum growing next to the Alpinia.