Waterways, courtyard gardens and apartment balconies across Guangdong are homes for the Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa).
Local people are now so familiar with the plant that it is easy to forget it was not always part of the local landscape.
Native to the tropical Americas, the Swiss cheese plant eventually found its way to southern China, where its split leaves, thought to resemble a tortoise shell, inspired the locals to name it "turtle-back bamboo" and to associate it with health and longevity.
Author | Feng Huiting
Video | IP Guangdong creator: Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (广州美术学院)
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