About Aroid Atlas
Aroid Atlas is a specialized visual encyclopedia and market index for rare tropical plants in the family Araceae (Aroids). Built for serious collectors, commercial nurseries, and botanists, we bridge the gap between scientific botanical metadata and real-world market valuation.
Our Approach
Botanical Accuracy
Every species profile is compiled with structured taxonomic data—documenting geographical origin, growth habit, morphology (leaf shape, texture, size), and care requirements.
Market Intelligence
We aggregate weekly historical sales data to track market velocity, volatility, and value ranges, offering an empirical valuation guide in an otherwise speculative market.
Retail Integration
We scan and index availability from premium UK nurseries, comparing live store pricing with auction listings to help buyers find the best deals.
Market Valuation Methodology
Calculating the value of rare plants is highly complex due to fluctuations in leaf counts, variegation quality, and seasonal demand. Here is how our statistical pipeline handles this data:
eBay UK Sold Comparables (Comps)
We crawl and log completed transaction prices from eBay UK auctions weekly. This records raw market transaction prices for real plant specimens sold between collectors.
Statistical Outlier & Keyword Filtering
Raw scraping captures noise—seeds, artificial leaves, pots, or shipping fees. Our ingestion pipeline parses listing titles to filter out irrelevant items. We also use a **20% Trimmed Mean algorithm** to remove extreme statistical outliers (scam listings or extremely high-priced large specimens) from the weekly average.
Retail Price Aggregation
In parallel, our crawlers scan stock availability across leading online plant retail shops. This provides the *Retail Value Guide* which displays stable store prices including VAT, providing context on whether it is cheaper to buy from a nursery or bid in an auction.
Market Volatility Disclaimer
The prices shown on Aroid Atlas are historical statistics computed using automated calculations and models. They represent estimates of general market trends and should not be taken as absolute valuations or financial advice. The rare plant market is highly volatile, and prices can fluctuate heavily based on seasonal weather, shipping conditions, and current trend aesthetics.