English: Windowleaf plants; Swiss cheese plants; Shingle plants.
Clades:
Araceae;
Arales;
Aridae;
Lilianae;
Angiospermae;
Plants.
Members: Monstera, Rhaphidophora, Epipremnum (Pothos), Scindapsus, Spathiphyllum (Peace lilies).
Regions: pantropical, Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Indo-Malayan region.
Habitats: humid, evergreen tropical rainforests; understory and middle canopy layers, hemi-epiphytes, climbing tree trunks to reach better light conditions while anchoring themselves down to the humid forest floor.
Content: Abundant trichosclereids (sharp, needle-like microscopic cells) and calcium oxalate crystals in tissues.
BotanyType: vines; evergreen; perennial; hemi-epiphytes (starting as a seed on the ground then climbing trees, or vice-versa), and occasional rheophytes (plants living in fast-moving water).
Root: dual system; terrestrial roots for anchoring in soil; extensive aerial roots produced at nodes to grip host trees and absorb moisture/nutrients from the air.
Stems: flexible; elongated; climbing or creeping; non-woody but highly fibrous; distinct nodes and long internodes.
Leaves: large; alternate; with distinct genicula (bendy joint-like structures on the petiole); famously undergo heteroblasty (changing shape drastically from juvenile to adult form); adult leaves feature dramatic fenestrations (holes) or pinnate lobes to let light and heavy tropical rain pass through without tearing the leaf.
Flowers: small; closely packed; lacking a perianth, petals or sepals; bisexually complete; arranged on a thick, cylindrical spike (spadix) subtended by a large, boat-shaped, often deciduous leaf-like bract (spathe).
Reproduction: primarily sexual via specialized insect pollinators attracted by heat generation (thermogenesis) in the spadix, ripening into densely clustered, fleshy berries; highly adept at asexual reproduction via stem fragmentation and trailing stolons.