---
title: Lemon button fern in a terrarium | Glass Jar Garden
description: Lemon button fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia 'Duffii'): Rows of tiny round leaflets, lemon scented. Tougher than most ferns. Needs light 2,500 to 10,000 lux,...
url: https://glassjar.garden/guide/plants/nephrolepis-cordifolia-duffii/
---

Plants

# Lemon button fern
Nephrolepis cordifolia 'Duffii'

Beginner · Fine in a closed jar

Rows of tiny round leaflets, lemon scented. Tougher than most ferns.

## What the simulation uses

- Light: 2,500 to 10,000 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 26 °C (Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.)

- Dies at: below -5 or above 33 °C (Days beyond these temperatures kill it.)

- Soil pH: 5 to 7 pH (Soil acidity it prefers.)

- Grows up: 1 cm/month (How fast it gains height in good conditions.)

- Spreads: 1.25 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: good (How well it holds on in dim light.)

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

- Water use: 0.1 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: 4.5 %/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: 25 cm tall, 30 cm wide (Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.)

## Care

- Day length: 12 to 14 h

- Substrate: Moist

## What kills it

- waterlogging
- prolonged drought

## Description
This dwarf fern handles dry spells and poor conditions better than most of its kind. It spreads by creeping stems and small tubers. Its neat shape makes it a popular centrepiece in jars.

Also called Nephrolepis 'Duffii'.

Estimated, where sources were thin: cultivar size (species values given); growth rates; humidity_rh_pct.

## Sources

- [plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/nephrolepis-cordifolia](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/nephrolepis-cordifolia/)
- [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephrolepis_cordifolia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephrolepis_cordifolia)

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

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