Succulent mania: the perfect fad for a rootless generation | Alice Vincent

Around the world, millennials' demand for the plants has created a wave of smuggling and theftSwiping idly through Instagram stories at the weekend, I was horrified to see a crime being committed. My usual flurry of macha lattes and toddler boomerangs was interrupted by home CCTV footage of a man stealing my friend's cactus. Placed in a doorway in Clapham, south London, the cactus seemed to be thriving - or at least it was until the thief deftly whipped it from its pot. This was clearly a targeted attack; the villain knew what he was aiming for.It turns out he might have been part of a global crime wave. This week, two South Korean men in Cape Town were given heavy fines and suspended jail sentences after being found guilty of trafficking 60,000 miniature succulents from South Africa and Namibia. It was the fourth such conviction in the last few months. Continue reading...