Monstera Deliciosa vs Borsigiana: Settling the Debate

The Quick Answer

Monstera borsigiana isn’t a separate species. It’s a smaller, faster-growing form of Monstera deliciosa. The plant community spent years arguing about this. Botanists largely settled it. The argument continues anyway because there’s money in the confusion.

Here’s what you actually need to know.

The Taxonomy, Briefly

Monstera deliciosa was described by the Belgian botanist Charles Lemaire in 1858. Monstera borsigiana was described by Schott as a separate species in 1860. For over a century, botanists went back and forth on whether borsigiana deserved its own species status.

The current consensus, based on modern taxonomic work, is that borsigiana is a variety or form of deliciosa, not a distinct species. Some researchers list it as Monstera deliciosa var. borsigiana. Others consider the distinction barely worth mentioning at the variety level. Nobody credible is calling it a fully separate species anymore.

What this means for you: when you see “Monstera borsigiana” on a plant label, it’s a Monstera deliciosa. The name describes a size and growth form, not a separate lineage.

The Physical Differences

They’re real differences. They’re just not species-level differences.

Size

This is the biggest practical distinction.

Deliciosa (in the traditional, large sense) is a genuinely massive plant at maturity. Outdoors in a tropical climate, the leaves can reach 90cm (3 feet) across. Indoors with good conditions and time, mature leaves commonly hit 45-60cm. The plant climbs to the ceiling and keeps going. It’s architecturally imposing.

Borsigiana tops out smaller. Leaves reach 30-45cm on a well-grown indoor plant. It’s still a large plant by most standards, but it doesn’t hit the same scale as a fully mature deliciosa. The overall plant stays more manageable.

The Geniculum

This is the physical detail that plant nerds use to identify the two forms, and it’s a legitimate tell.

Deliciosa has a geniculum - a ruffled, rinkled section at the base of the petiole (the stem that connects the leaf to the main stem). It looks like a small wrinkled collar or ruffle just before the leaf blade. You can feel it as a slightly bumpy texture. On a mature plant it’s quite visible.

Borsigiana lacks the geniculum, or has only a very subtle version of it. The petiole connects to the leaf base smoothly, without that ruffled wrinkle.

If you have a Monstera and the petiole-to-leaf junction looks smooth, you likely have borsigiana. If there’s a distinct wrinkle or ruffle, you have the larger deliciosa form. This test is most reliable on mature, well-established plants. Juveniles of both forms look nearly identical.

Fenestration (The Holes)

Both forms develop fenestrations (the iconic holes and splits) as they mature, but they develop differently.

Deliciosa produces more complex fenestration on larger leaves. A fully mature deliciosa leaf has multiple rows of holes along the midrib, plus the outer splits that reach to the leaf margin. More surface area means more fenestrations.

Borsigiana develops fenestrations too, but smaller leaves mean fewer holes per leaf. A mature borsigiana leaf still looks like a Monstera, just a scaled-down version of the full-size pattern.

Growth Rate

Borsigiana grows noticeably faster than the large-form deliciosa. It pushes new leaves more frequently, climbs faster, and establishes itself more quickly. This is probably why it became so dominant in the nursery trade: faster growth means faster inventory turnover.

Deliciosa is slower. It invests more into each leaf. This isn’t a flaw, it’s just a different strategy. The payoff is those genuinely dramatic mature leaves.

What You’ll Find in Stores

Almost certainly borsigiana. The fast-growing, more compact form is what nurseries propagate because they can grow and sell it faster. The giant-form deliciosa is less common commercially outside of specialty plant shops and mature specimen sellers.

This isn’t a conspiracy. It’s just economics. Borsigiana is a legitimately good plant, it just isn’t the same visual spectacle as a decades-old specimen deliciosa.

The Variegated Forms

Both Thai Constellation and Albo Monstera are forms of deliciosa. The variegated Albo is more often listed as ‘Albo Borsigiana’ because the variegated cutting stock that became widespread tends to have the borsigiana growth habit. Thai Constellation is tissue-cultured and doesn’t map as cleanly onto the deliciosa/borsigiana distinction.

None of this affects care. It’s just naming.

Care

Identical. There is no care difference between deliciosa and borsigiana that matters for a home grower.

• Bright indirect light, tolerates lower light but grows slower
• Water when the top 2 inches of soil are dry
• Humidity above 50% encourages better growth and leaf development
• Fertilize monthly during the growing season with a balanced liquid fertilizer
• A moss pole or coco coir pole lets both forms climb and develop larger leaves

If someone tells you that “true deliciosa” needs special care that borsigiana doesn’t, they’re making it up.

The Price Premium Question

Here’s where I’ll be blunt.

Some sellers charge a premium for plants they call “true deliciosa,” implying that the large geniculum form is rarer, more desirable, or botanically superior. There’s a grain of truth: large, mature specimens of the giant form are genuinely more impressive and harder to find commercially. That size premium is real.

But the way this is often marketed - framing borsigiana as an “inferior” or “fake” plant that unwitting buyers are being tricked into purchasing - is mostly seller narrative. You’re paying for size and maturity, not a fundamentally different or better plant.

If you want a giant Monstera that will eventually fill a corner of your living room, seek out a larger, older specimen and expect to pay for it. If you want a Monstera that grows quickly, looks great, and fits in your apartment, the borsigiana form isn’t a consolation prize.

The Verdict

They’re the same species. The differences are real but they’re differences of scale and growth rate, not of kind. The geniculum and the ultimate size potential are the only meaningful physical distinctions.

Buy the one that fits the space you have and the growth pace you want. The debate has been interesting plant community trivia, but it’s not a reason to second-guess your purchase or feel like you were sold something lesser.

Your Monstera is a Monstera. Give it a pole to climb and enjoy the holes.