Rare tiny house plant with four leaves auctioned for Dh19,500

The anonymous buyer told Radio New Zealand that he acquired the plant for "a tropical paradise".

A tiny house plant has just four leaves but has been sold for an unbelievable NZ $8,150 (Dh19,524 approx) in New Zealand due to its rarity of half green and half yellow leaves. 
The plant, a variegated 'rhaphidophora tetrasperma' or philodendron minima, sparked bidding on New Zealand's trading site Trade Me where it was described as "extremely rare". 
Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the leaves which is a not only a rare occurrence but the plant also grows slower than other usual plants, reported Times Now. 
"It's the green in the leaves that lets plants photosynthesise. The less green, the less surface area they have to produce the sugars they need for growth and repair," NZ Gardener editor, Jo McCarroll, explained.
In spite of variegation not being that good for the plant, this one was sold for NZ $8,150 only because of its rarity. The highest price paid for a plant on the website before this bid was NZ $1,650.
The anonymous buyer told Radio New Zealand that he acquired the plant for "a tropical paradise". "It's actually three of us, we are part of a group. We're building a tropical paradise, it will be a bird and butterfly house with a fully-enclosed restaurant in the middle of a tropical garden, and we want to have the best rare collection of tropical plants in New Zealand inside of there," he said.
The buyer added, "This facility that we're building is going to be one of a kind in New Zealand and probably one of a kind in most parts of the world."