Why Plants Die
Theme
Theme

Swiss Cheese Plant

Monstera epipremnoides, Araceae

Sources last read 14 September 2026.

Not yet rated How forgiving it is has not been judged here yet.

Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera epipremnoides), the whole plant.
Chhe at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Swiss Cheese Plant is toxic

  • Not assessed for cats. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
  • Not assessed for dogs. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
  • Toxic to people. Toxic to people (low severity). NC State Extension

What the sources say about its care

Light
Dappled Sunlight, Partial Shade
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Water
Good Drainage, Moist
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Soil
Clay, High Organic Matter, Sand; pH Acid (<6.0)
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
Toxic to people (low severity)
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Routine care

Watering
Use rainwater or filtered water. Raise humidity with a humidifier, or stand the container on a pebble tray with water covering the pebbles.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Propagation
Propagate from stem cuttings.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Pests and diseases
Can be troubled by fern scale.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Move something and watch

Loading the simulator. It needs JavaScript; the care table above does not.

Close view of Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera epipremnoides) foliage.
Close upKrzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

About the plant

Monstera epipremnoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae, endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. When mature, its leaf blades are up to approximately 70 cm in length and they are pinnatifid, with perforations regularly splitting through the leaf margin, dividing the leaves so that they have three to 15 lobes per side of the leaf, often with long internal fenestrations running along them.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026

Native range
Costa Rica to Panama
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Costa Rica to Panama
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Climate
wet tropical
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
climber
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Epiphyte, Perennial; habit climbing
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Size
Height 72–96 in; width up to 48 in
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
Flowers green, white; blooms in spring, summer
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Uses

What sources record people using this plant for. A traditional or medicinal use listed here is a record of use, not advice to eat it or treat anything with it.

Every part of this plant is toxic apart from fully ripe fruit.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Other Monstera

More of the Araceae family

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.