Swiss cheese vine vs Swiss cheese plant

Monstera adansonii · Monstera deliciosa

Mature size: Swiss cheese vine reaches about 144 inches; Swiss cheese plant tops out near 120. Buying the wrong one for a shelf means rehoming it in a year.

Why these two get mixed up

Both are Monstera, so they arrive on the same shelf under near-identical labels and are routinely swapped in the trade.

Swiss cheese vine (Monstera adansonii) — **Swiss cheese vine** — Monstera adansonii. Photograph by Walter Hood Fitch, Wikimedia Commons , Public domain.

Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa) — **Swiss cheese plant** — Monstera deliciosa. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons contributor, Wikimedia Commons , CC BY-SA 3.0.

	Swiss cheese vine	Swiss cheese plant
Scientific name	Monstera adansonii	Monstera deliciosa
Family	Araceae	Araceae
Light floor	Medium	Medium
Water	6–11 days	7–10 days
Humidity floor	50%	40%
Mature height	24–144 in	72–120 in
Habit	climbing	climbing
Growth rate	fast	fast
Difficulty	Easy	Easy
Toxic to pets	Yes	Yes
Typical price	$18–55	$20–60

Highlighted cells are where the two actually differ. Everything else they share.

The differences that matter

Mature size

Swiss cheese vine reaches about 144 inches; Swiss cheese plant tops out near 120. Buying the wrong one for a shelf means rehoming it in a year.

Which should you buy?

In a dim room, take either — both have a medium light floor.
If you forget to water, take Swiss cheese plant, which goes 9 days between drinks.
If it is your first plant, take either — both score 2 of 5.
For a small shelf, take Swiss cheese plant, which stops around 120 inches.

Full entries

Swiss cheese vine — care fields with sources, toxicity with every authority consulted, propagation and diagnosis. Swiss cheese plant — the same.

Sources

This database's own care records for Monstera adansonii and Monstera deliciosa — every figure compared above.
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Plants of the World Online — accepted names and families for Monstera adansonii and Monstera deliciosa
ASPCA Animal Poison Control — toxicity classification for both, cited on each species entry
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, individually credited and licensed above

Compiled and edited by Tony Valcarcel · 2026-09-12
Every comparison above is drawn from a recorded field. Where the honest distinguisher is visual we show both photographs rather than describing a leaf we have no field for. How this is sourced.