In contemporary interiors, boutiques, apartments, film sets… the Monstera Deliciosa, this plant with “curiously lobed leaves,” knows how to make itself invisible through its ubiquity. From graphic patterns in the corner of a page to urban jungles, more than just an ornamental plant, it seems to have established itself as a symbolic plant whose visual saturation—suspended above the ground—appears to evoke a certain longing for nature.
In 1693, botanist Charles Plumier identified a plant of the Monstera genus (Monstera adansoni) in Martinique for the first time. In the 19th century, Monstera deliciosa, “discovered” in Central America, found its way into European greenhouses as a symbol of exoticism and prestige. Three centuries later, the initial drive to catalog and capture has given way to a drive toward mass production. Thousands of monstera plants are propagated and exported from European greenhouses, while communities of collectors continue the legacy of the first botanists, seeking out “the rarest and most curious” that nature can produce, all while fostering the creation of greater diversity.