Adiantum aethiopicum

Common maidenhair

Australia's common maidenhair fern, which also grows in New Zealand, southern and eastern Africa and some Indian Ocean and Pacific islands. It forms spreading colonies from wiry, creeping rhizomes along creeks and in damp open forest. It is one of the easier maidenhairs: give it bright shade, constant moisture and cool-to-mild temperatures.

Adiantum aethiopicum — Photo: Poyt448 Peter Woodard, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

At home, aim for

Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry

Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

No rest periodGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

A terrestrial fern of damp, open places, often along creeks and in open forest, where it forms large colonies. In South Africa it favours moist sandstone cliffs in full shade.

Few records carry an elevation. In Australia it grows from the coast into the ranges, and in Africa mainly in the uplands.

Eastern and southern Australia (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia)New ZealandNorfolk IslandNew CaledoniaSouthern AfricaEast and Central Tropical AfricaMadagascarSocotra

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates

✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it

✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light

✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it

✓ Substrate and airflow

✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC0 licence, unmodified.