The sale of an Anthurium luxurians broke Palmstreet’s August $10,000 record, highlighting the rise of rare plants as high-value collectibles.
A houseplant sold for $26,000 on the Palmstreet app in late September, breaking a previous record set a month earlier for a single-plant sale on the platform. Palmstreet specializes in collectibles.
The three-leaf plant, Anthurium luxurians variegated “albo marble,” was sold by Harry Luu, owner of Plant Zaddy Therapy, a Southern California-based company. The plant is known for its large, heart-shaped leaves patterned with white and cream variegation. The sale, Luu says, was a “collaboration project” with a colleague and friend from Central America. “We received the plant in early May, propagated a small piece of it to retain in our inventory, and offered the only mother plant size known to the plant world of this variety and color patterns.”
Buyer’s Price For Three Plants: $52,000
The same day Luu sold the $26,000 plant, he sold another for $16,000 to the same buyer, initially breaking the August record of $10,000 held by Bill Da Bui, owner of Southern California-based Beach City Botanicals. All three plants were purchased by Emily Gerson of Las Vegas-based Peculiar Plant Aunt.
“These two recent plants are incredibly rare, with breeding potential through self-crosses and hybridization—too exciting to pass up,” says Gerson.
Luu flew to Thailand to inspect the Anthurium variegated forgettii × heinz, which Gerson bought for $16,000. “It was a seed mutation out of a batch made in Thailand,” Luu says. “Within the batch, only two seeds displayed this exact color transformation and bumpy texture.” In June, the plants were introduced at the Bangkok International Exotic Plant Show, but for display only.
Luu works with breeders and growers worldwide, and carries more than 1,500 different varieties of plants in his catalog. His company specializes in breeding and sourcing variegated velvet leaf anthuriums.
Buyer Has A Soft Soft Spot For Finicky Plants
Gerson notes that shipping plants internationally is a gamble for buyers, since mishaps can occur during customs and import checkpoints. “It’s not uncommon for plants to be destroyed or lost altogether,” she says. “Often, the stress of travel can kill a plant if handled or packed improperly. So the fact that Harry personally flew out to handle this in person speaks volumes about the potential and rarity of those two plants in particular.”
Because the plants are rare, what they will look like at full maturity is unknown. “I definitely have a soft spot for the more difficult plants,” Gerson says. “If look at it wrong and it might die—I want it.”
The $26,000 Anthurium luxurians variegated “albo marble” Gerson purchased, for example, is harder to maintain because of its variegation. It’s also a slow grower, offering fewer opportunities for reproduction, which hikes the price.
Luu considers a plant’s “rare-ometer” when setting prices. “That boils down to a plant’s difficulty in replication, whether the plant is new to the market, traits that fail to pass on to offspring or asexual propagations, care difficulty and other factors,” he says.
Da Bui Has Perfected Livestreaming Sales
Rare plants are the largest live-shopping category on Palmstreet. “Our plant community is heavily made up of collectors who have their sights set on specific plants with mutations or genetic abnormalities,” says Angalena Malavenda, Palmstreet’s head of brand marketing and operations. She estimates that about 100 million plants will be purchased on the platform this year.
Da Bui, the previous $10,000 Palmstreet record holder, says livestreaming has overtaken the rare plant e-commerce marketplace, replacing Facebook Marketplace. “Livestreaming provides protection from scammers and unfair selling practices for both sellers and buyers, and adds a layer of privacy,” Da Bui says.
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This story was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
