New Zealand house plant sells for $27,000 in online bidding war

A New Zealand pot plant with just nine leaves has sparked an online bidding war, selling for a record-breaking $27,000.

A plant with just nine leaves has sparked a bidding war on a New Zealand auction site, selling for a record-breaking $27,000.

Bids for the “very rare” white variegated rhaphidophora tetrasperma closed last night, rising in the last four minutes between one bidder, “foliage_patch” and the other, eventual winner “meridianlamb”.

Native to Southeast Asia, the plant is also often called a “mini monstera” for its resemblance to the eponymous and unrelated species.

Speaking to CNN, spokeswoman for the Trade Me auction site, Millie Silvester, said the plant was “the most expensive house plant ever sold” by them.

“After a heated bidding war in the auction’s final minutes, the rare plants had over 102,000 vies and more than 1600 watch lists, which just goes to show how much Kiwis adore house plants,” she told the network in a statement.

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A house plant with just nine leaves has sparked a bidding war on a New Zealand auction site, selling for a record-breaking $27,000. Picture: Trade Me

Ms Silvester said the average price for an indoor plant on the bidding site had jumped from $NZ34 ($A31) in May 2019 to $NZ82 ($A75) last month, with rare varieties commanding “massive prices”.

It’s also not the first time someone has forked out a whopping amount of money for this particular species – last August, someone spent $6880 on Trade Me on a variegated rhaphidophora tetrasperma.

“House plants have become the ‘it’ item over the last couple of years. We’ve seen prices creep up and up as more Kiwis jump on this new trend,” Ms Silvester said.

“This plant has eight leaves with the ninth just about to uncurl. Each leaf has excellent variegation as does the stem and is well rooted in a 14cm pot,” the description for the plant, provided by seller “Hurley88”, read.

There were 248 bids for the plant.

Originally published as New Zealand house plant sells for $27,000 in online bidding war