#Some sucker in New Zealand just spent $5,000 on a houseplant

A buyer in New Zealand set a new local record for the priciest plant, coming in at around $5,300.

The proud new plant parent acquired an “extremely rare variegated Rhaphidophora tetrasperma,” also called a “mini Monstera” for its resemblance to the eponymous and unrelated species. The plant, native to Southeast Asia, boasts just four leaves, Vice reported.

For anyone counting, that breaks down to about $1,325 per leaf.

The hefty price tag comes down to the species’ rarity and desirability. The New Zealand-based auction website Trade Me reported a spike in search interest for Monstera plants: Between the end of May and beginning of June, they saw more than 33,000 searches for the variety, with 10,000 specifically seeking variegated Monsteras.

Unfortunately for its new owner, this specimen is more likely to go the way of many a doomed houseplant. Think of a variegated plant kind of like a pure-bred dog. For all their careful genetic planning, they’re known for being more finicky than their genetically fortified counterparts. The appeal is that variegated species are mutated to be more vibrant than their typical green cousins — parading leaves with stripes and splashes of yellow, pink, purple and white.

“A plant will grow a leaf that looks a little bit different, because those leaves don’t have chlorophyll,” Jesse Waldman, the director of marketing and ecommerce at Pistils Nursery in Portland, Oregon, told Vice.

And, unfortunately, the fragile mutation is temporary for some. Many variegated plants reset to their true green-hued form once they’re propagated. Others may flourish less over time.

“If you take a cutting and propagate it, you can hope [the variegated plant] keeps going, but that kind of mutation isn’t very stable,” said Waldman. “A lot of plants will revert back to their solid green form, which is a factor that makes them a little bit more challenging to produce in huge numbers.”

Recently, Trade Me saw a variegated Hoya carnosa “compacta” sell for around $4,200 in June, and a variegated Monstera aurea, with splashes of light and dark green, go for over $3,700.

While plant “parenting” has risen as a hobby de rigueur, especially among affluent and child-free millennials, the coronavirus pandemic set off another plant boom, according to experts.

“Since mid-March, we’ve seen a tremendous spike in online sales, especially for blooming plants,” Eliza Blank, founder of online plant seller the Sill, told The Post in April. “We can hardly keep up with fulfillment.”

The sudden interest in horticulture is a reaction to social-distancing safety measures, she said.

“People need something to tend to, to nurture, to pull away from the computer.”