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| Pilea peperomioides |
The Chinese
Money Plant came out of nowhere. It is
the equivalent of a country song hitting the top ten. Every
song that is produced is expected to be a hit, but no one can predict if a new song will be the most popular.
A few growers caught on to the wave of
demand for Pilea peperomioides. Were
they lucky to grab the limited supply and put effort into keeping the ball rolling? Well, you can make your own luck.
The Pilea that looks like a Peperomia
is a legitimate easy to grow houseplant.
After the boom, there won’t be a bust.
It will take its place in the assortment of standard houseplants.
Can a grower create a purposeful
viral demand for a new plant? No.
Seldom has there been this bottom-up
demand for a plant that was not even being produced in the United States.
So, let’s get serious about creating
the next Pilea peperomioides.
To me, the most logical unknown
plant is Peperomia polybotrya, ‘Owl Eye’.
It’s mentioned in the Pilea discussion as similar and is often confused
with each other.
Guess what? There is no supply. At least no big numbers that are required to support
a new viral demand.
Peperomia polybotrya is a very
attractive foliage houseplant. It has
large shiny oval leaves with a pronounced omphalodium (navel), with radiating
lines. Thus, the appearance of ‘Owl Eyes”. (No, I never knew the word ‘omphalodium’ or
what it means)
Conventional vegetative propagation
could supply local demand, if it exists.
There will be sales by association with the Chinese Money Plant. There can not be run away sales because there
will be no supply.
Enter tissue culture. If someone commits time, money and effort
into a tissue culture project, then infinite supply is possible. But if ‘Owl Eye’ never leaves the bottom of
the hit charts, it will be folly.
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| Peperomia polybotrya |
