ALIEN FERNS IN HAWAI'I

The record of the naturalization of Selaginella kraussiana (Kunze) A. Braun, Spreading Clubmoss, in Hawai'i dates to 1938, when G. E. Olson collected it in the lawns of the Kilauea residences in Hawaii National Park. Selaginella kraussiana is an African species with prostrate, mat-forming, much-branched stems that root along their length. It is undeniably the most common Selaginella in cultivation, from which it frequently escapes. It can now be found well established in the Kilauea area of Hawai'i, where it grows in lawns, edges of fields, and along trails and roadsides in wet areas. Since Wagner's report in 1950, S. kraussiana has been found on O'ahu (Herat 271, BISH) and was recently collected along the Hana Highway on Maui (Hobdy 3448, BISH).