ALIEN FERNS IN HAWAI'I

Adiantum tenerum Swartz, Brittle Maidenhair, was found to be established on Maui by Tim Flynn in 1987. It is common in a grove of Terminalia located behind the Hana community building at Ka'uiki on the east side of Hana Bay (Flynn 2418 & 2513, PTBG). A popular species in cultivation from the New World, A. tenerum differs from the other twice-or-more-pinnate species of Adiantum in the Hawaiian flora by the presence of a small enlarged disk at the base of each segment, the dark color of the stalk does not extend into the base of the segment.