The common name "Swiss cheese plant" is also used for the related species from the same genus, Monstera adansonii.

[3] The specific epithet deliciosa means "delicious", referring to the edible fruit.

[9] The names in Spanish (costilla de Adán), Portuguese (costela-de-adão), and French (plante gruyère) refer to the change of the leaves from entire to fenestrated, comparing it in the first two cases with the ribs of Adam and in the third with the hole-filled gruyère cheese.

In coastal regions of Sicily, especially Palermo, it is called zampa di leone (lion's paw).

[18] Fruits of plants of the Araceae (Arum family) often contain raphides and trichosclereids – needle-like structures of calcium oxalate.

As it ripens, the starch that was stored in the green fruit is converted to sugar, giving it its sweet flavor.

[18][19] This plant lives in the humid tropical forests, in the lowlands and middle mountains, in the extreme south of Mexico and also in Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Cuba, and Panama.

The seeds fall to the ground, then the seedlings crawl (negative phototropism) until they meet a tree on which to attach.

Wild plants can also be found in other parts of North America (Florida), Asia (Malaysia, India), Australia and the Western Mediterranean and Atlantic (Sicily, Mainland Portugal, Morocco, Madeira).

Monstera deliciosa is commonly grown outdoors as an ornamental plant in the tropics and subtropics.

It cannot withstand these temperatures for more than a few hours, but it can live outside in certain temperate regions (Mediterranean coast, Brittany).

In those areas where it grows naturally, M. deliciosa is considered a delicacy due to its sweet and exotic flavor.

In the UK Monstera deliciosa[2] and the cultivar 'Variegata'[22] have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

[24] Monstera deliciosa is moderately toxic to both cats and dogs because it contains insoluble calcium oxalate crystals (needle-like).