---
title: Earth star in a terrarium | Glass Jar Garden
description: Earth star (Cryptanthus bivittatus): A flat, striped star of a bromeliad. Slow, and bleaches in heat. Needs light 3,000 to 12,000 lux, humidity 50 to 85 %...
url: https://glassjar.garden/guide/plants/cryptanthus-bivittatus/
---

Plants

# Earth star
Cryptanthus bivittatus

Beginner · Fine in a closed jar

A flat, striped star of a bromeliad. Slow, and bleaches in heat.

## What the simulation uses

- Light: 3,000 to 12,000 lux (The brightness it grows well in.)

- Humidity: 50 to 85 % RH (Air moisture it is happy in; below the lower end it dries out.)

- Temperature: 16 to 29 °C (Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.)

- Dies at: below 5 or above 38 °C (Days beyond these temperatures kill it.)

- Soil pH: 5 to 6 pH (Soil acidity it prefers.)

- Grows up: 0.2 cm/month (How fast it gains height in good conditions.)

- Spreads: 0.5 cm/month (How fast its edge creeps outwards.)

- Copes with wet: fair (How well it stands soggy soil; poor means rot comes quickly.)

- Copes with still air: good (Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.)

- Copes with shade: fair (How well it holds on in dim light.)

- Copes with drying: good (How well it survives the jar drying out.)

- Water use: 0.06 ml/cm²/day (Water drawn up from its roots per cm² of leaves in room air; a sealed jar cuts this to a fraction and returns it down the glass.)

- Leaf drop: 2 %/month (Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.)

- Soft leaves: no (Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.)

- Full size: 10 cm tall, 15 cm wide (Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.)

## Care

- Day length: 10 to 14 h

- Substrate: Moist

## What kills it

- waterlogged substrate (crown rot)
- frost
- midday direct sun

## Description
This bromeliad hugs the ground instead of perching on trees, and it is one of the best picks for a jar. Growth is slow. Too much shade dulls its stripes, so give it decent light without letting the jar run hot.

Also called starfish plant.

Estimated, where sources were thin: temp_c; temp_lethal_c; growth rates; humidity_rh_pct.

## Sources

- [plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/cryptanthus-bivittatus](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/cryptanthus-bivittatus/)
- [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanthus_bivittatus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanthus_bivittatus)

[Grow it in a jar](https://glassjar.garden/?guide=plants/cryptanthus-bivittatus)

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